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BT 

AMOEY H. BEADFOED 

AUTHOR OF " SPIRIT AND LIFE,'' " HEREDITY AND CHRISTIAN 

PROBLEMS," '' THE GROWING REVELATION,'' 

" MESSAGES OF THE MASTERS," ETC. 




I^eto iorfe 

THOMAS Y. CROWELL & CO. 
PUBLISHERS 



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Two OopiiJii !ie«^v*it» 

OCT. J 6 1905 



Copyright, 1905, by T. F. Crowell 8^ Co. 



Published, October. 1905 



TO 
THE MEMBERS OF MY OWN FAMILY 

WHOSE DEVOTED AFFECTION AND GBACIOUS MINISTEIES 

HAVE BBIGHTENED MANY AN HOUK OF DAEKNESS 

AND ADDED JOY TO MANY A DAY OF LABOB 

THIS BOOK IS GBATEFULLY DEDICATED 



PREFACE 



A HIS booh is a growth. It is the fruit of a 
somewhat extended study of the Christian doc- 
trine of the Holy Spirit. A treatise on that 
doctrine it surely is not^ but it shows where one 
man has been led who has made it the rule of 
his thinking to follow the Leadership of the 
Spirit, 

This volume is a series of essays. Each chapter 
starts from the same point as every other ^ but 
ea^h one is independent of the others. The 
names of three chapters give a hint as to the 
purpose of the whole booJc, viz., The Inward 
Light, The Immanent God, and The Continu- 
ous Leadership of the Spirit. 
The teaching of the book may be condensed as 
follows: 

There is in every man light sufficient to disclose 
all the truth that is needed for the purposes 
of life; 

That light is from God who dwells in humanity 
[vii] 



pttfatt 



as He is immanent in the universe; therefore the 
source of authority is to be found within the 
soul and not in external authority of churchy 
or creed or book: 

That light being Divine must be continuous; it 
will never fail; it will lead into all truth and 
show things to come; and it may be implicitly 
trusted. 

Two chapters of this booh require a word of 
explanation. That on The Continuous Leader- 
ship of the Spirit^ in a slightly different form^ 
was delivered before the National Council of 
Congregational Churches of the United States^ 
at Des Moines^ lowa^ in October^ 1904^ as the 
Moderator\^ Address; that on the Creeds in sub- 
stance appeared in my previous volume^ "The 
Growing Revelation^'' which is now out of print. 
It is here revised and condensed. 
It ought to be said^ perhaps^ that nearly all of 
my chapters were written before Sabatier'^s vol- 
ume^ "The Religions of Authority versus The 
Religion of the Spirit, '^'^ appeared. His great 
work has cori/irmed me in my own convictions 
[ viii ] 



pvtfatt 

which, while they are substantially the same a^ 
his, were reached along a different path. 
I would have no word or thought of mine lessen 
in the least the reverence due to the Church, the 
Bible, and the witness of history to the truth, 
but I can make the words of Whittier my own: 

" We fast and pleads we weep and pray^ 
From morning until even; 
We feel to find the holy way,, 
We knock at the gate of heaven; 
And when in silent awe we wait^ 
And word and sign forbear^ 
The hinges of the Golden Gate 
Move soundless to our prayer! 
Who hears the eternal harmoniei 
Can heed no outward word; 
Blind to all else is he who sees 
The Vision of the Lord.*^ 

Amory H. Bradford. 
July 4, 1905. 



[ix] 



CONTENTS 



I. The Inward Light Page 3 

II. The Immanent God 31 

III. Spirit and Life 59 

IV. The Inward Sinai - 83 
V. The Sanctity of Duty 109 

VI. The Inward Calvary 133 

VII. The Ultimate Authority 155 

VIII. The Ultimate Standard 179 

IX. The Bibles of the World 205 

X. The Creeds 229 

XI. Hindrances to Spiritual Vision 259 

XII. Conditions of Spiritual Sight 283 

XIII. The Continuous Leadership of the Holy 

Spirit 305 

XIV. Personality a Prophecy 333 
INDEX 357 



Cl^e antDatD tim 



CHAPTER FIRST 




OR many years, and for 
many centuries, men have 
been taught to look for 
the ultimate authority in 
their thinking and living 
to some one or to some 
writings or to some institution outside of 
themselves. The supremacy and sanctity of 
the State or of the Church, of some sacred 
book or of some holy man or of some doctrinal 
standards, has been emphasized, while but few 
have caught glimpses of the clearer light - 
-which shines within the human soul, and 
still fewer have dared to think of it as evi- 
dence of the divine indwelling, or even as 
the medium of a divine revelation. Almost 
alone, the Society of Friends has ventured 
to assert this truth, and to teach it as an 
article of religious faith. It has remained for 
the twentieth century to give to the Inward 
[3] 



Ci^e antoarti Ifgi^t 



Light the attention which it deserves. For- 
merly it was left to mystics of various 
schools, and even recently it has been sus- 
pected of being " new theology,'' and has 
been regarded as a source of various inoffen- 
sive heresies, when it has not been denounced 
as an enemy of the Christian Church. But, 
happily, the days in which men have main- 
tained a fearful attitude toward knowledge 
are passing away. Truth needs no defence; 
it cannot fail in due time to command atten- 
tion and loyalty. The first inquiry formerly 
was, Does a doctrine conform to the stand- 
ards? Now the question is. Are the stand- 
ards themselves reliable? Inquirers were then 
taught that articles of faith should be ac- 
cepted because they could be supported by 
texts from the Bible; now they are learn- 
ing that the rehgious teachings of the Bible 
are trustworthy not because of what they 
claim for themselves, but because they have 
been found to be eternally true. In former 
days men were told that they should rever- 
ence one day in seven because that duty was 
[4] 



Cl^e antoai^D Ltgi^t 



in the commandments ; but now it has been dis- 
covered that the need, and therefore the duty, 
of such observances was written, in the nature 
of things, centuries — possibly millenniums — 
before the law was graven in stone. The light 
within, in the long period before Moses, re- 
vealed the essential human condition, and the 
best way to supply what it lacked, i^he In- 
ward Light is as old as the existence of man as 
a personality.. The study of it is interesting, 
and may be pursued by all who will patiently 
observe the awful and beautiful phenomena 
of human existence and measure their signifi- 
cance. The subject should be approached 
with the method of the psychologist rather 
than with that of the theologian. It is a 
-question of fact, not of proof-texts, inas- 
much as the value of the proof -texts depends 
on its endorsement. 

What is the meaning of the phrase, the In- 
ward Light? It signifies that within every 
man there is One who reveals, as sufficient 
guide for all the necessities of man's condi- 
tion, truth so far as it is requisite for him to 
[5] 



Ci^e SlntioarD Itgi^t 



know it. The Apostle John wrote, " Ye have 
an unction from the Holy One, and need not 
that any man should teach you " (I John ii, 
20). This text fails to apply to every one 
merely for the reason that in many persons 
the organs of spiritual vision have been so 
systematically obscured that they need to 
have the filth removed from the eyes of their 
spirits before those eyes can see in the Light 
within. The Quakers express their belief as 
follows : " The one cornerstone of belief upon 
which the Society of Friends is built is the 
conviction that God does indeed communicate 
with each one of the spirits. He has made in 
a direct and living inbreathing of some meas- 
ure of the breath of His own life; and He 
never leaves Himself without a witness in 
the heart, as well as in the surroundings of 
man ; that the measure of light, life, or grace 
thus given increases by obedience.'' (" Quaker 
Strongholds," C. E. Stephen, p. 20.) 
George Fox, the chief prophet of the Society 
of Friends, is spoken of as follows : " God did 
teach him by His Spirit. The light shone in 
(6] 



Cl^e 9intuarD Ligi^t 



his soul and he saw the truth. He did not 
get it from the Bible, though it was there. 
He knew it first by revelation, and then, with 
the revelation enlightening him, he could see 
the truth in the Scriptures. This is his doc- 
trine of the Inward Light." (" The Quakers," 
Turner, p. 335.) 

There is light within every man, which so 
illuminates his mind as to make it capable of 
discerning reahty. Light illuminates and has 
power. This Inward Light reveals what is 
true in the Bible, in all other books, in man, 
and in the universe; also it creates the desire 
to do the things which it reveals to be right. 
It is more than reason; it is the medium in 
which the soul sees, or, perhaps, it is the soul 
seeing in its own light. It is more than con- 
science, for conscience is reaction against 
wrong, or affirmation of the sanctity of right ; 
whereas this light is a revealer of truth. This 
is the meaning of the teaching of Jesus con- 
cerning the Holy Spirit. There is light in all 
human beings; it is an essential of a true 
humanity ; it is not known that any normal 
[7] 



m^t 3Int»at:D ligl^t 



man has ever been without it; that light 
is sufficient to show every one all of truth 
and all of duty that is needed. By that light 
one is able to discern the difference between 
truth and error, between what is temporal 
and what is eternal in the Bible and in the 
creeds, and to determine what in them is from 
man and what from God: it enables him to 
discriminate between what is of local and 
what of universal application; and, if he be 
obedient to the heavenly vision, he may some- 
time discover truths which the world needs, 
but of which it has never yet dreamed. The 
light in all other men, in its essence, is the 
same as that which shone in the minds of 
Isaiah, Paul, and John. They saw more than 
ordinary men see, not because they had dif- 
ferent light, but because they observed more 
carefully what the common light revealed. 
Let no one shrink from the logical result of 
this teaching. It means that those who will, 
may see, to the fulness of their finite powers, 
truth and duty as God sees them, and may 
thus be more sure of His mind and will than 
[8] 



Ci^e gitrtoarD Kgi^t 



they would be if an audible voice should speak 
to them. 

How do we know that there is any such Light ? 
It is one thing to discern the hght, and an- 
other to be sure that it is a ray from the 
Divine Sun. This inquiry deserves a candid 
answer. The two questions suggested w^e will 
consider separately. How do we know that 
the Inward Light is a reality ? For the pres- 
ent let us leave all books and teachers and 
authorities, and turn our eyes inward. I shall 
try to do that, and I trust that my readers 
will do the same. As I scrutinize my own 
personality, I find that it is a composite into 
which have gone inherited traits, the influence 
of environment, the teaching of parents and 
professors, the messages of preachers, and 
most of all the ethical and spiritual ideals of 
the Christian rehgion. It is difficult to sepa- 
rate and to give due credit to the various 
forces which have moulded character and 
made it what it is. But let me try to get 
back of all the influences which have helped to 
make me what I am. As I push my inquiry, 

[9] 



Ci^e 31ntaatD iLigi^t 



I find that, so long as I can remember, there 
has been within me abihty to discern the dif- 
ference between truth and error and between 
right and wrong; also I find that there has 
always been something within showing me 
that truth and right are more desirable than 
error and wrong. Moreover, I see clearly that 
that something is unchanged in the midst of 
all the changes of opinion as to what consti- 
tutes truth and duty, and that it is not 
affected by outward conditions. And I ob- 
serve that, in proportion as I have chosen 
right and truth, my ability to discern them, 
has been enlarged and my satisfaction in them 
has increased. And I have observed, still fur- 
ther, that just so far as I have followed what 
has been inwardly revealed to me as truth and 
duty, I have found myself in substantial har- 
mony with all others who have been true to 
their inner vision. I do not mean that all have 
come to the same conclusions in detail, but I 
do mean that in a general way there is har- 
mony as to spiritual verities and ethical ideals 
between all who walk in this Light. Further, I 
[10] 



Cl^e 31wtDat:D JLigi^t 



observe that in such degrees as I have obeyed 
the revelations of duty which have come to 
me, my conviction as to what duty is has be- 
come clearer, and the desire to do the right 
more imperative. Thus much now is evident. 
There is within me, therefore presumptively 
in every man, light sufficient to make the 
needful truth and duty evident, and also to 
create an impulse toward them which, if 
obeyed, would result in a perfect man; for 
what is a perfect man except one who is loyal 
both to truth and to duty.'^ 
Thus I find within myself the Inward Light, 
and I find that it has been there as long as I 
can remember. I am therefore forced to be- 
lieve that it is as old as my being. And what 
I have discovered in myself, I find that others, 
who have made the same study, have also dis- 
covered in themselves. I am thus compelled to 
believe that this light is not isolated, but is 
essential in the human personality. Whence 
did this light come? The answer to that ques- 
tion is for our faith. The longer I meditate 
on this inquiry the denser the darkness 

[11] 



m^t 31ntx)at:ti Itgl^t 



becomes if it is separated from the intuition of 
God. The inquiry leads back to that primal 
mystery which concerns the genesis of man 
and the union of spirit and body. Philosophic 
speculation has loved this subject, but its con- 
clusions have been as various as the thinkers. 
Some regard it simply as a result of evolu- 
tion. They say that the cosmic process has 
merely produced a being possessing spiritual 
vision, and that this strange and almost pre- 
ternatural faculty has grown out of most 
unpromising soil. I know not. There is an- 
other answer which does not contradict, but 
which rather supplements and clariiSes the for- 
mer. It is given in the Christian Scriptures. 
The Apostle John in his Gospel speaks of 
" the Light which lighteth every man that 
Cometh into the world'' (chap, i, 9). These 
words distinctly confirm the truth which the 
study of the human personality discloses. 
Paul, writing of his own work as an apostle, 
said : " By manifestation of the truth, com- 
mending ourselves to every man's conscience 
in the sight of God" (II Corinthians iv, 2). 
[12] 



Cl^e 9IntDatn Kgl^t 



In other words, there is a something in every 
man which responds to truth when the man 
and the truth are brought together. Jesus 
said that when He should go away the Spirit 
of Truth would lead into all truth, and show 
things to come (John xvi, 13). 
The Christian revelation affirms that God is 
in every human soul, and that the quickness 
with which we turn toward truth and right 
are the response of God to His own. The 
Quaker doctrine of the Inward Light, then, 
is substantially the Christian doctrine of the 
Indwelling Spirit. 

The reality of this light within is implied 
in the philosophical doctrine of the imma- 
nence of God, which means that in a certain 
real sense God is in all men. What is meant 
by the immanence of God.'^ There would be 
various answers to that query, but I state 
the truth as follows : Personality is essentially 
divine; all persons in the unity of their self- 
consciousness are exactly like God; when I 
speak of God immanent in man I mean that 
personality is identically the same in man as 
[13] 



Ci^e antoatti ligi^t 



in God. The same personality is in one as in 
the other ; yet not in such a way as to destroy 
individuality. 

An essential part of personality is light, con- 
sidered as a medium of ethical and spiritual 
vision. This light is not merely outside, but 
is also within the personality, and essential to 
it. Ethical and spiritual personality knows 
itself as made for truth and right. This light 
is from God, because the personality to which 
the light is essential is from God. All I really 
care to affirm thus far is that we are conscious 
of an Indwelling Light, fully adequate to all 
human life's needs; a light which precedes 
any distinctly Christian or religious expe- 
rience, which surely, though in varying de- 
gree, reveals truth and impels toward right- 
eousness ; and that at the lips of Jesus that 
light is called the Spirit of Truth, and by 
modern philosophy is regarded as God im- 
manent in the soul of man. 
Another equally obvious fact is that this light 
is dependent on the human element in the per- 
sonality for opportunity to shine. Light 
[14] 



m^t SlntoatD Ifgl^t 



always takes the color of the medium through 
which it passes. If the mind is open and the 
heart unpolluted, the light is clear. The worst 
of men has the light in his soul, but because 
his mind and affections are vile he sees with a 
dimmed and distorted vision. 
Mrs. Browning has finely said : " Only the 
good discern the good." Like discerns like. 
The day is the same for the man who goes 
out to corrupt innocence, and for the one 
who gives himself to protect the weak. The 
Bible is the same whether it is read or ignored. 
Truth is not changed by being neglected. 
One man uses the light for evil and another 
for good, but that which irradiates the 
minds of both is the same. Every man may 
discern truth, but not a few bUnd their eyes 
by greed or vice. If you will study your 
own mental processes, you will find that your 
views of truth are vivid or dim according as 
you have looked upon the facts of life in 
" the light which lighteth every man," or in 
the shadow cast by your own selfishness. If 
we ask, What is true.^ we seldom wait long 
[15] 



Ci^e 3!ntxiatD JLtgiftt 



for a satisfying response; but if we ask 
what we would like to have true, the answer 
will vary with our moods. The tendency to 
seek that which will please rather than that 
which is right, increases with every choice 
of evil, and the result is moral and spiritual 
blindness. But absence of the power of seeing 
does not imply absence of light. The sun 
is not eclipsed when one puts out his eyes. 
Those whom we call heathen have light, 
and may use it aright, but they have been 
trained to interpret facts in one way; the 
same facts are given a different interpreta- 
tion by us because we have been accustomed 
to look at them from a different point of 
view. This is a great lesson. Light is one, 
but individuals differ; and the same duties 
and events, seen in the one light, will appear 
differently to different persons. Difference of 
vision, and of interpretation, are not to be 
dreaded ; this only is to be dreaded — the pos- 
sibility of approaching any fact with a cor- 
rupt rather than a pure intellect, and a self- 
ish rather than a loving heart. 
[16] 



m^t 3Ittt»ai:D ligDt 



The universality of the Inward Light is the 
basis of universal responsibility for beliefs. 
No one needs to believe that which is false. 
Every one may know as much truth as is 
requisite for him. Not all will have equal 
knowledge for, while the light shines in all, 
all eyes are not equally strong. But I love 
to think, as think I may, that those who are 
in heathen lands, and those who are shut out 
of religious privileges, and those who have 
learned to hate the churches because of some 
hard or cruel teaching they may have heard 
there, may still find the truth. The brightest 
light is within themselves. If any are really 
heathenish and irreligious, it is not merely be- 
cause they have never heard of the Christ, or 
do not know the Bible, or have turned away 
from the churches, but because they do not 
use the light within, which all have. Is the 
question again raised. How may we use that 
light.? The answer is. All do use it who obey 
the impulse which bids them to seek for real- 
ity and to be satisfied with nothing less, what- 
ever the cost and whatever the apparent sacri- 
[17] 



Cl^e 3ItttDatD Lifii^t 



fice. The light is limited neither by nationality 
nor by creed. It is within every human being. 
The peril is that it may be obscured by hav- 
ing to shine through a lecherous mind or a 
selfish heart. 

Men are responsible for their beliefs, because 
each one has all the light that he requires for 
the purposes of living. It is not so important 
that we seek for a true creed as that we en- 
deavor to keep our minds open and our hearts 
pure. A trustworthy creed is an impossibility 
for all who force reason and the moral sense 
to express themselves through a corrupt m^e- 
dium. Those who are true to the Inward 
Light are always truth-loving and good. This 
Inward Light has been called the Spiritual 
Christ as well as the Holy Spirit. It matters 
little what names be given to this superlative 
spiritual reality. This we know, for both 
consciousness and observation clearly teach 
it, in the universal light God is disclosed 
and duty is clear. Every soul has a Bible, 
which, if it were read with due considera- 
tion, would speak of heaven and holiness. 
[18] 



Cl^e 31ntDatD Itgl^t 



Our chief duty in this world is to keep the 
windows of our souls wide open, so that the 
light may stream in; and our eyes free from 
pollution, so that all objects may be seen in 
their proper proportions and relations. 
We now approach another and equally im- 
portant branch of the subject: What is the 
final authority in religion? This inquiry will 
be treated more at length in a subsequent 
chapter. A few suggestions will suffice here. 
Authority and standard are not the same. 
All Christians would agree in confessing that 
the final standard is Jesus Christ. He is the 
human ideal embodied. To be like Him is 
the end of endeavor. The realization of His 
character is the finest fruit of the religious 
life. But authority, in the present use of the 
word, is some power or person to which ap- 
peal may be made to determine the worth of 
an ideal or the value of a standard. When 
the Person of Jesus stands before us, what 
is it that prompts the approving response: 
He is the Perfect One, and all should seek to 
be like Him? In the Bible, some passages 

[19] 



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are of local and transient significance, and 
others of universal and eternal application. 
What makes these contrasts evident? To what 
tribunal may we appeal to determine for us 
what is true ? Is the Bible an infallible author- 
ity? There is a prior and more important 
question: How may we learn whether it is 
trustworthy? Those who believe in the Bible 
do so for some good reason. They do not 
accept it as from God on its mere claim to be 
divine. The sacred books of other religions 
make that claim with equal insistence. Why 
is one religion regarded as divine and an- 
other as human? Moreover, the voices of 
preachers and teachers of all phases of faith 
make a Babel. Some of them attract us and 
some of them repel. To which shall we give 
hospitality? And yet, further, churches and 
theologians insist on the imperative impor- 
tance of many diverse doctrines, all hallowed 
by centuries of devoted loyalty. Which shall 
be accepted? Or shall we dare to reject any? 
In other words. How may we determine what 
is true? I know no answer except this: We 
[20] 



Cl^e 91nt»at:D iLigl^t 



must trust the Spirit of God acting through 
man's rational and moral powers. This is the 
Inward Light — the light which lighteth every 
man. But, if possible, let us be still more defi- 
nite. Why do we accept Jesus as the eternal 
ideal of humanity.'^ Because when He stands 
in the Inward Light His perfection com- 
mands loyalty; there is no other court of 
final appeal. 

Why do some reject the doctrine of ever- 
lasting punishment consciously endured .^^ Be- 
cause, when that doctrine is brought into the 
Inward Light, in spite of its advocacy by 
many godly men, it is seen to violate that 
which stands revealed of the character of 
God both in nature and in the Christian 
Scriptures. And why do we now turn from 
many of the moral standards of the period 
of the Exodus as barbaric.'^ Because, when 
they are brought into the Inward Light, they 
are instinctively and instantly repudiated. 
But is there any clear principle which may 
be used to guide us in our search for reality 
and right.? Is not the following answer both 
[21] 



Ci^e SltttoatD iLigi^t 



true and easily applicable? Whatever, when 
it is brought into the Inward Light, appears 
to the seeker after truth as worthy of God, 
may be accepted, and followed to the end 
without fear; while whatever violates his in- 
tuition concerning God should be rejected 
without hesitation. 

But is not this forsaking the Christian teach- 
ing of the Mastership of Jesus Christ and 
the supremacy of the Bible ? My reply is this : 
the fundamental doctrine of Christianity is 
that of the eternal being and work of the 
Holy Spirit. We have a Bible because it was 
inspired by the Spirit of God; we are able 
to come to something like confidence that we 
know what the Bible teaches because we trust 
the Spirit. When we remember that the Bible 
is written in a dead language; that it has 
had to be translated from a text which has 
been sadly, and in some parts almost hope- 
lessly, corrupted; that the peculiarities of 
Oriental thought are hard for an Occidental 
to grasp; that the Book has been preserved 
in the midst of the vicissitudes of centuries 
[22] 



Ci^e SlntoarD JLigi^t 



of controversy and war, we shall readily see 
that it is to be trusted in its relation to hu- 
man souls only as it is guaranteed by some 
authority outside itself. That guarantee is 
given by the Spirit of God in the spirit of 
man. This emphasis on the Inward Light does 
not discredit Jesus Christ as Master; rather, 
it provides the only trustworthy means of 
verifying the validity of His claims. In the 
Inner Light He stands crowned, and worthy 
of both loyalty and worship. 
We are now face to face with a simple but 
superb fact: the holiest place for every man 
is within his own soul. It is more awful than 
the holy of holies in any temple. The In- 
ward Sinai is more sacred than that Sinai 
of the desert which Moses climbed. Every 
moral law is written in our own being more 
clearly than the commandments of Moses 
were graven in stone. If we will but be honest 
and earnest, we shall find that we are carry- 
ing about within us the eternal principles of 
righteousness, from which no man can ever 
escape, the violation of which is sin. There- 
[23] 



m^z gintJjatD Jligl^t 



fore all who do wrong are without excuse. 
If we would know the truth, it is not neces- 
sary that we should read many books or 
listen to many teachers. Rather do we have 
need to enter into the inner silences and hon- 
estly ask what we find there. Our bodies are 
temples of the Holy Ghost, and it is to the 
Holy Ghost who dwells in every man that we 
should listen. Those who give heed to Him 
will never be disappointed and never misled. 
A willingness to trust to Him, the present 
Light, the common source of revelation in all 
the ages, the author of the Bible, the author 
also of all the truth in all sacred books, and 
the inspirer of all heroisms, is the greatest 
need of this age, and, possibly, of any age. 
The Quakers and many of the best of the 
mystics made much of the duty of being quiet 
in order that the soul may hear the divine 
voice. Fenelon says : " We must silence every 
creature, we must silence ourselves also, to 
hear in a profound stillness of the soul this 
inexpressible voice of Christ. The outward 
word of the Gospel itself without this living 
[24] 



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efficacious word within would be but an empty 
sound." (Quoted by Whittier, Introduction 
to "Journal of John Woolman," p. 49.) 
And in " Religio Medici," Sir Thomas Brown 
says : " I am sure that there is a common 
spirit that plays within us, and that is the 
Spirit of God. Whoever feels not the warm 
gale and gentle ventilation of this Spirit, I 
dare not say he lives ; for truly without this 
there is no heat under the tiopics, nor any 
light, though I dwell in the body of the sun." 
In an age in which there are voices many, 
and much confusion of sounds, and when 
the heart of man is corrupted by sensuahty 
and selfishness, there may well be new em- 
phasis on the exhortation of Jesus, " Enter 
into thy closet, and shut the door." Or let 
us say that there is still a stronger obliga- 
tion honestly and earnestly to turn our eyes 
inward and compel every duty that asks 
obedience, and every truth that would have 
acceptance, to justify itself in the radiance 
that shines ever in the most holy of all tem- 
ples, the sanctuary of the human soul. 
[25] 



m^t %rmavt) iLigi^t 



If we are true to ourselves, and then are 
led into error, the blame will have to be laid 
at the door of the Author of our being. If 
fidelity to God's handiwork leads away from 
God, whom may we trust? But there is no 
such danger. The poet of the Inward Light 
has finely expressed the truth to which this 
age, and all the ages, should give most ear- 
nest heed: 

'^ What if the earth is hiding 
Her old faiths long outworn ? 
What is it to the changeless truth 
That yours shall fail in turn ? 

'^ What if the overturned altar 
Lays hare the ancient lie ? 
What if the dreams and legends 
Of the world^s childhood die ? 

'^ Have ye not still my witness 
Within yourselves alway, 
My hand that on the keys of life 
For bliss or bale I lay ? 

'^ Stilly in perpetual judgment 
I hold assize within, 
With sure reward of holiness 
And dread rebuke of sin, 
[26] 



m^t SlntoarD tigfyt 



" A light, a guide j a warning, 
A presence ever near, 
Throicgh the deep silence of the flesh 
I reach the inward ear,^' 
— Whittier, '' Vision of E chard,'' 



[27] 



€]^e immanent d^oD 



CHAPTER SECOND 



Cl^e 9lmmanent (0oi) 




HE pendulum of thought 
swings forward and back- 
ward with rhythmic regu- 
larity. Opinions which are 
conspicuous in one age are 
almost forgotten in the 
next. Most statements of belief also show the 
influence of locality and of race. Certain na- 
tions and races emphasize one phase of truth, 
and other nations and races emphasize other 
phases. This especially is true of the Being 
of God. Roman thinkers dwelt much upon 
the transcendence of the Deity, while Greek 
philosophers, and most Oriental teachers, have 
been impressed by His omnipresence and im- 
manence. No one school has, or probably could 
have, the full and sufficient doctrine; that 
would require for its expression not only the 
practical qualities of the Roman mind com- 
bined with the mysticism of Greek and Ori- 
[31] 



Ci^e 3Ittt»atD itgi^t 



ental thinking, but also the wisdom and vision 
of all who have ever lived and loved, and 
learned by human experience. The diffusion 
of knowledge has given to every people some- 
thing of the peculiarities of all nationalities 
and of all ages. Orientals are influenced by 
Occidentals, and Occidentals are begining to 
feel the effect of the clear horizons of Greece 
and the splendid mountains of India. The 
prevailing emphasis in theology, since Cal- 
vin's time, has been upon the Roman method 
of thinking and on the Roman results of 
thought, but the last fifty years have wit- 
nessed a gradual return to the method and 
teaching of the Greek theologians of the early 
Christian centuries. Greece and the Orient 
have dwelt upon the reality of the " pervasive 
unity " and the " omnipresent energy." The 
Occident, on the other hand, has been more 
impressed by the conception of the Infinite 
Personality. 

A doctrine of God large enough for man- 
kind will not be found in the creed of any 
school or of any nation taken by itself, but 
[32] 



Ci^e 9Ittittianent d^oD 



it should rather be sought in a combination 
of what is essential and vital in the thinking 
of all nations and schools. 
The pendulum having swung now in the 
direction of the Divine immanence, and that 
truth having a distinct relation to the reality 
of the Inward Light, I propose in this chap- 
ter to attempt such an elucidation and expo- 
sition of the doctrine as may be required by 
the subject to which this book is devoted. 
The Inward Light is the indwelling presence 
of God. If that presence is in all men, then 
God must be in all men ; if that light is 
everywhere, then God must be everywhere. 
What does the phrase, " the Divine imma- 
nence," mean? 

The difficulty of answering this inquiry is 
chiefly with the qualifying word " divine." 
Immanence signifies residing in, remaining in. 
Magnetism is immanent in certain metals; 
a man's spirit is immanent in his body. The 
thought of mere energy residing in the uni- 
verse is a conception which may be easily, 
though not fully, grasped; but the concep- 
[33] 



Cl^e 31nt»atD Uqf^t 



tion of the Personal Deity as thus immanent 
is too vast and complicated to be fully com- 
prehended. 

The Infinite personality does not exist apart 
from and beyond the universe, but actually 
inhabits it, as a man dwells in his house, as 
magnetism inheres in metals, as the spirit re- 
sides in the body, and as gravitation acts in 
all the spaces. We know that this must be so, 
because otherwise there would be some place or 
state outside the universe where God dwells, 
which would be the negation of the universe. 
Therefore, if God is. He must be in the uni- 
verse, because it has no outside. The Deity, 
in some real and vital sense, is in all men, 
in all spaces, in all places, and He has been 
so in all times. The quaHfications of these 
statements will appear as this study pro- 
gresses. 

Does this doctrine of the Divine immanence 
imply the indwelling of being and essence, or 
only that of potentiality? Is God actually in 
all men and in all things, or does He simply 
cause His energy to pervade them at will.? 
[34] 



Cl^e 3Immanent cKoD 



In the nature of the case, an answer to this 
question must be conjectural. One teacher 
answers as follows : " His omnipresent energy 
is His immanence; but so great is that omni- 
present energy that, instead of being the 
fully worked slave of the universe that He 
inhabits and maintains, God is its Master." 
(W. N. Clark, "An Outline of Christian 
Theology," p. 118.) Instead of saying, " His 
omnipresent energy is His Immanence," I 
prefer to say, " His omnipresent ' person- 
ality ' is His immanence," because energy 
may be an attribute of personality, but per- 
sonality cannot be an attribute of mere 
energy. At this point illustration is easier 
than definition. " It is in human personality 
alone that we must look for light on our sub- 
ject; the limited light, indeed, of a lantern 
carried in our own uncertain hand, but still 
the only light that we can possibly possess." 
(IlHngworth, "Divine Immanence," p. 78.) 
The spirit of man pervades his body, and yet 
the spirit is not the body ; and with our 
present knowledge, it is idle to inquire in 
[35] 



Ci^e 3Intt)atti ligl^t 



what part of the physical organism the spirit 
resides. That man is a person, viz., a being 
who thinks, feels, chooses, and in whom these 
powers are united in a single finite self-con- 
sciousness, is all that is known. This per- 
sonality is in a human body. We infer that 
thought, feeling, volition, in like manner, are 
united in an infinite self-consciousness — in 
the Being whom we call God, and that He 
pervades the universe as the human spirit 
pervades man's body. Spirit does not have 
dimensions, but, like thought and choice and 
love, it is independent of material barriers. 
A granite mountain is no obstacle in the way 
of thought; distance can put no chains on 
the power of choice; love can never be con- 
fined within prison walls. In the following 
way we think of God as immanent: There is 
no outside to the universe, and therefore He 
dwells in it. He is everywhere, because all 
space and all time belong to spirit or per- 
sonality. As spirit, He is everywhere, not 
only potentially, but actually. He is in all 
material things, but not as an architect is in 
[361 



Ci^e 91mmanent €»oli 



the building which he erects, because the 
building has existence apart from the builder, 
while the universe has no existence apart from 
God. It is continuously dependent upon Him. 
Is God in every flower and star, in every force 
and law.'^ Whether He be in them in essence, 
I know not, but dynamically He must be. 
Without Him nothing would continue to 
exist. 

Just here we are met by another question: 
This doctrine teaches that God is personality 
and that man is personality, and that God 
is immanent in human personality; but how 
can one personality dwell in another person- 
ality? Is the human personality distinct and 
individual.'^ And is the Divine personality 
also distinct and individual.'^ And in some 
way does one penetrate the other.? Or is all 
personality divine, and man a being who is 
human only as to his body, but who is of the 
essence of God as to His spirit.'^ 
The confusion at this point arises from think- 
ing of peBsonality in physical terms. Two 
physical bodies cannot occupy one and the 
[37] 



Ci^e 3Int»atD Kgl^t 



same place at the same time ; but the power, 
if not the essence of one personality, may be 
in another without invading its individ- 
uality. 

A man's thought is a part of himself. It is 
possible for me to receive into my mind a 
thought of Plato, and the very method of 
his thinking, so that I may have his temper, 
his character, his spirit, his intellectual proc- 
esses. It may in like manner be said that God, 
by His thought, by His love, by His working, 
and by His ways of working, comes into our 
thought, love, and will. 

But personality is itself divine; then, when 
it exists in man is it not only that part of 
the infinite personality which may be ex- 
pressed in individual terms? In other words, 
is not the human person a divine emanation 
coming from God like a ray of light from 
the sun, and sometime to be absorbed in Him 
again ? 

In replying to these questions, I can only 
insist that consciousness certifies that we are 
persons and individuals, and that there is no 
[38] , . 



Cl^e Slttimanent (t5oD 



reason to believe that personality in its es- 
sence is not the same in both God and man. 
By the aid of illustration and analogy we are 
trying to define that which cannot be fully 
defined, and to explain that which cannot 
be completely explained. At the most, such 
means help but a little to penetrate the mys- 
tery by which we are surrounded. We use 
them because they are the best that we have; 
they assure us that as, except in bulk, there 
can be no difference between an atom and the 
universe, so there can be no essential differ- 
ence between the finite and the infinite per- 
sonality. Thought, feeling, and volition are 
always in essence the same. Then, is the hu- 
man personality identical with the divine, in 
the same sense that a bay or a tidal river is 
the ocean, in both of which the mass is un- 
divided, while the individuahty is preserved? 
It is difficult to see how any other conclusion 
is possible; nor need this be avoided so long 
as we cling to the reality of a personal God, 
and to man as an individual spiritual being. 
But how does this conclusion differ from pan- 
[39] 



Ci^e 3|ntx)atD Itgi^t 



theism? Is it not saying, in effect, at least, 
that God is all? 

There is a vital difference between saying 
that God is all, and that He is in all things. 
The universe may be pervaded by Deity. His 
power and wisdom may be in its every part, 
and yet neither the mountains nor the oceans 
be a part of Him. The pantheist says that 
all things are God ; that there is no affection 
or intelligence except as the universe blos- 
soms now into a man thinking, and again 
into a woman loving; that man is but one 
part of the house becoming intelligent; that 
the house and the man are identical. The 
theist says, on the contrary, that the house 
and the man are not identical; that the man 
is a spirit resident in and sustaining and 
using the house which is his body. Panthe- 
ism teaches that the universe is God; the 
Divine immanence implies that God dwells 
in, pervades, uses, and sustains the universe, 
but that by it He is never limited. 
Robert Browning, the most philosophical of 
all poets, has expressed the truth of the im- 
[40] 



Cl^e 91mmanent d^oD 



manence of God in distinction from panthe- 
ism as follows: 

" This is the glory ^ that, in all conceived^ 
Or felt J or known, I recognize a mind — 
Not mine, hut like mine — for the double joy 
Making all things for me, and me for Him.^^ 

— HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU. 

" Thou — as represented to me here 
In such conception as my soul allows — 
Under thy measureless, my atom-width ! 
Man^s mind, what is it, hut a convex glass 
Wherein are gathered all the scattered points 
Picked out of the immensity of sky. 
To reunite there, he our heaven for earth. 
Our known unknown, our God revealed to man.'^ 
— The Ring and the Book. 

Can the Divine immanence be proven? It can- 
not; neither can the Divine existence, but it 
is a condition of all rational thought about 
God. As has before been observed, He must 
be either in the universe or outside of it. If 
He is outside of it, then what is called the 
universe is falsely named ; for the universe is 
[41] 



%])t 91nt»atD Jligi^t 



the unity of all things that exist, and there 
can be no outside. But if there be no outside, 
then God must pervade all places and spaces 
because He is infinite, and nothing less than 
infinity could contain Him. The postulate of 
immanence is necessary to a rational concep- 
tion of the Deity. Because it is a necessary 
idea it has the force of demonstration. Proof 
may be impossible, but the acceptance of the 
hypothesis is inevitable. 

If the Deity is in the universe. He is subject 
to limitations; then how can He be infinite.'^ 
I answer the spirit in man is only apparently 
the slave of the body. No barriers can hinder 
thought or obstruct love, and the power of 
choice is unfettered. My body may be in a 
dungeon, while my thought is sailing the 
oceans or making excursions among the stars ; 
my body may be chained to some hateful 
creature, while my love pours all its riches 
at the feet of a kindred spirit a thousand 
miles away; my body may be surrounded by 
guards who make physical movement impos- 
sible, but neither guards nor armies can com- 
[42] 



Ci^e 9ittimanent dDioD 

pel me to choose what I despise, or can for a 
single moment bend my unconquerable will. 
As to his power of choice, every man is free, 
although he may not be able to put his choice 
into action. The spirit is immanent in the 
body, and it also transcends the body ; it uses 
the body, but never, except by its own choice, 
is used by the body. The Spirit who pervades 
the universe also, and in like manner, tran- 
scends the universe. He is superior to it and 
is its Master. Material limitations are no hin- 
drances to His thought, feeling, and power 
of choice, which are the essence of all per- 
sonality. As the human spirit is not neces- 
sarily hmited by its body, so God is not 
limited by the Creation ; it is merely the ex- 
pression of His thought and will and love. 
It is constantly and forever what He chooses 
that it should be. Even evolution is but one 
of the processes by which God reveals Him- 
self. 

Wordsworth, in " Tintem Abbey," has finely 
expressed his faith in a Divine life hidden be- 
neath the raiment of the natural world: 
[43] 



Ci^e 3Int»arD Jltgi^t 



^^ And I have felt 
A presence that disturbs me with the joy 
Of elevated thoughts ; a sense sublime 
Of something far more deeply interfused; 
Whose dwelling is the light of setting suns, 
The round ocean, and the living air, 
And the blue sky, and in the mind of man; 
A motion and a spirit that impels 
All thinking things, all objects of all thought, 
And rolls through all things. Therefore am I still 
A lover of the meadows and the woods 
And mountains, and of all that we behold 
From this green earth; of all the mighty world 
Of eye and ear, both what they half create 
And what perceived; well pleased to recognize 
In nature, and the language of the sense, 
The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse. 
The guide, the gu/irdian of my heart, and soul 
Of all my moral being. '^ 

Does not this conception of the Deity rest 
entirely on faith? It does; but no more truly 
than do other forms of knowledge. Reality 
is discovered by faith. All intellectual con- 
clusions are dependent on faith. " We walk 
by faith, not by sight." Faith is the eye of 
the soul — it is the soul seeing what the bodily 
[44] 



Cl^e SImmanent (1B»0D 



eye could not discover. No man hath seen 
God at any time — that is, with the physical 
vision — but millions of pure souls have real- 
ized the truth of the Beatitude, " Blessed are 
the pure in heart, for they shall see God." 
All doctrines concerning the Unseen, in the 
last analysis, rest on faith. The Divine im- 
manence is accepted by us not because it can 
be demonstrated, but because it best satisfies 
our intellectual necessities. In all thinking, 
with the help of our own mental faculties, 
we go a certain distance, but soon we reach 
a point where we face an abyss apparently 
with no bottom and no other side. If that 
abyss is crossed it must first be bridged by 
faith. But faith has no very heavy burden 
to carry in this instance. When I remember 
that I am a thinking, feeling, willing being — 
in short, that I am a personality — I cannot 
help inferring that the finite is a part of 
the infinite, that the limited implies the abso- 
lute, and that personality in man is the sure 
prophecy of the perfect personality, which is 
God. 

[45] 



m^t 3Int»arD Jltgi^t 

i 

If God is immanent in the universe, then is 
He not evolved, as the physical creation is 
an evolution? 

God is not the product of evolution, but He 
is its source. From Him are all things; by 
Him are all things; and for Him are all 
things. He is not the process of evolution, 
but He uses the process to give freedom to 
" the groaning creation," and to bring all 
men to the perfection for which they are 
intended. 

What is the relation of the indwelling God 
to the development of history.'^ 
He is the power, not ourselves, working for 
righteousness. History is the movement of 
humanity toward a splendid goal. The most 
antagonistic forces work together for the 
good of man. The discords in the human 
orchestra at first seemed irreconcilable, but 
gradually the process of blending has gone 
on, until it is now evident that all men, all 
€vents, and all forces are converging toward 
one vast and universal harmony. In the end 
harmony is inevitable, and no man and no 
[46] 



C]^e gimmanent (0oD 



nation can hinder it longer than the hin- 
drance is needed to make the harmony per- 
fect. All things work together for good, not 
only for those who love God, but for the 
whole creation. Cruelty leads to kindness ; and 
greed, in the end and in spite of itself, by its 
own reaction makes men generous. The more 
fierce and bloody the war, the clearer becomes 
the futility of war, and the more imperative 
the necessity of finding a way to beat swords 
into ploughshares and spears into pruning- 
hooks. If through the development of his- 
tory " one unceasing purpose runs " ; if even 
greed, cruelty, and hate are made to minister 
to progress; if all events are moving toward 
a goal of intellectual illumination and moral 
perfection, it is unreasonable to believe that 
the process is the result of chance, and with- 
out design. If palaces presume architects, 
and galleries full of Madonnas and Ascen- 
sions presume artists, does not a universe in 
which every part is slowly but surely moving 
toward beauty, toward harmony, toward 
truth, toward the victory of righteousness 
[47] 



m^t gintoatn itgi^t 



and the rule of love, necessitate the conviction 
that personality is as pervasive as the move- 
ment onward, and as sure to be victorious as 
it is universal? 

These are a few of the questions which meet 
us as we climb toward those heights of human 
inquiry which open outward and upward to- 
ward the universe and toward God. In these 
sacred altitudes our pace must be slow, and 
our spirits should be humble. No tone of dog- 
matism ought to find its way into such an 
inquiry. 

I cannot resist the belief that the renewal of 
emphasis upon the doctrine of the immanence 
of God is sure, in the future, to influence 
thought in many and most revolutionary 
ways, only one of which, however, it is neces- 
sary to consider. 

The Apostle John, in his first epistle, has 
written, " God is light, and in Him is no 
darkness at all." The physical scientist ex- 
plores the spaces, and finds everywhere an 
" omnipresent energy." He calls it force, or 
gravitation, or electricity, it matters not 
[48] 



Ci^e 31ittmanent dBJoD 



what; for while it has many forms, all of 
them are manifestations of one energy. The 
spiritual philosopher seeks to explore the 
universe, and he goes but a little way before 
he finds that he is walking in the midst of 
light. It shines within and around him, and 
it shines within and around all human souls. 
And while this light has individual manifes- 
tations it is all one, as the light reflected from 
the lanterns of all the light-houses is the same 
as that which shines from each one individ- 
ually. Energy is one, and omnipresent, and 
light is one and omnipresent; and the omni- 
present energy is the immanent God, and the 
allpervasive light is also the immanent God. 
How the individual and the universal may 
coexist and cooperate we need not seek to 
explain, but that they do both coexist and 
cooperate, every man ought to appreciate, 
for every human mind is lighted from a 
Divine torch, every human heart is thrilled 
with divine emotion, and every human will is 
sovereign, like the Divine will. 
The subject of this chapter finds frequent 
[49] 



Ci^e SntoarD Jltgi^t 



and sublime recognition in the Hebrew and 
Christian Scriptures. " Thou hast beset me 
behind and before." " If I make my bed in 
Sheol, behold, thou art there. If I take the 
wings of the morning, and dwell in the utter- 
most parts of the sea; even there shalt Thy 
hand lead me." " The Lord answered Job out 
of the whirlwind." Elijah in the wilderness 
about Horeb heard a still small voice. " The 
Apostle John said, " Every one that loveth 
is begotten of God, and knoweth God." Then 
God is everywhere that love is — that is, in 
every human heart. 

Augustine, in his confessions, wrote : " I could 
not be, O my God, could not be at all, wert 
Thou not in me; rather, were not I in Thee, 
of whom all things are, by whom all things 
are, in whom all things are." The immanence 
of God was never more lucidly expressed than 
in these words of Paul, " In Him we live, and 
move, and have our being." Paul also said: 
" Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of 
God " — that is, beings in whom in a true sense 
God is reproduced, as every father is repro- 
[50] 



Ci^e 91mmanent (Bob 



duced in his son. " Know ye not that your 
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? " 
Tennyson's poem, " The Higher Pantheism," 
is perhaps the classical expression of the 
modern conception of the immanence of God. 

" The sun, the moon, the stars , the seas, the hills, 
and the plains, 
Are not these, Soul, the Vision of Him who 
reigns? 

"/s not the Vision He, though He be not that 
which He seems? 
Dreams are true while they last, and do we not 
live in dreams? 

" Earth, these solid stars, this weight of body and 
limb. 
Are they not sign and symbol of thy division 
from Him? 

" Dark is the world to thee; thyself art the reason 
why; 
For is He not all but that which has power to 
feeVI amr? 

" Glory about thee, without thee; and thou fulfil- 
leso thy doom, 
Making Him broken gleams, and a stifled splen- 
dor and gloom. 

[51] 



m^t 3!ntDat:D UqH^t 



^^ Speak to Him, thou, for He hears, and Spirit 
with Spirit can meet; 
Closer is He than breathing, and nearer than 
hands and feet, 

" God is law, say the wise, Soul, and let us re- 
joice. 
For if He thunder by law, the thunder is yet 
His voice. 

" Law is God, say some; no God at all, says the 
fool; 
For all we have power to see is a straight staff 
bent in a pool; 

^^ And the ear of man cannot hear, and the eye 
of man cannot see; 
But if we could see and hear, this Vision — were 
it not Her' 

The Deity present everywhere; the Deity in 
some vital sense dwelling in every human soul ; 
the Deity the Perfect Light; this is the alti- 
tude to which we have been led by this study. 
The reality and the authority of the Inward 
Light now appear. The Inward Light is not 
the unaided powers of man which have been 
evolved by a slow and tedious process from 
[52] 



Cl^e 31mtnanent (15oD 



no one knows what, but rather the clear 
shining of the Light which is God. Where 
shall we find God? In the splendor of the 
heavens, among the majesty of the moun- 
tains, in the vastnesses of the oceans? Yes, 
if we have eyes to see Him, for He is there; 
but a truth that is far more important for 
us to heed is, that He is near us, even in our 
hearts. 

Have some persons more light than others? 
That is quite possible, for a few focus more 
light in themselves by their exceeding purity, 
but all have all that they need. Jesus the 
Perfect Man differed from other men in the 
perfection of His humanity — not in its nat- 
ure. He had more Ught than smaller souls, 
but that which shone within Him was not 
different in kind from that which shone in 
Pilate and Herod. The distance between Him 
and them was as the distance between heaven 
and hell; but though He was divine, he was 
also human, even as they were, and the Ught 
within them was the same as the light within 
Him. He used the light, which they failed to 
[53] 



Ci^e 3lntDarn iLtgi^t 



use. The difference between them was an ethi- 
cal, not an ontological difference. God is al- 
ways the same whether He be in a palace or 
in a hovel. His presence carries brightness 
according to the condition of the radiating 
surface. The most obscure and apparently 
neglected souls not infrequently can teach us 
more of God than all the sages can. 
The doctrine of the immanent God is pre- 
eminently the doctrine for an age of inquiry. 
It is not a modern phase of pantheism or 
of Neoplatonism. We are not now passing 
through a revival of Plotinus, or even of 
Spinoza; but we are having the universalism 
of the Hindoo and Greek conception of the 
Deity combined with the truer universalism 
which Science by her discoveries has made 
possible, united with the emphasis which 
Jesus always placed on personality and in- 
dividuality. The result is that the sanctity 
of the human soul as the dwelling-place of 
the Deity has a hitherto unknown recogni- 
tion. An increasing number of persons of 
all classes are appreciating that within every 
[54] 



Cl^e Slttimanent dPoD 



man there is light and leading, standard and 
authority, moral power and spiritual cer- 
tainty; and that no sanctuary on Eastern 
mountain, and no cathedral in Western city, 
are so sacred as the soul of man in which 
God's voice speaks, and where, in God's light, 
the truth is revealed. 



[55] 



^pitit and titt 



CHAPTER THIRD 

^pivit am fiiit 




HIS theme is distinguished 
both by its vastness and 
by its mystery. In its 
presence one may well re- 
member that the place on 
which he stands is holy 
ground. Yet the subject was often on the lips 
of Jesus, and has such a vital relation to the 
Christian Revelation, and to individual and 
spiritual growth, that it ought to be care- 
fully and reverently studied. 
What do these texts mean ? " If any man 
thirst, let him come unto me, and drink." 
" He that believeth on me, as the Scripture 
hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers 
of living water. But this spake He of the 
Spirit, which they that believe on Him were 
to receive: for the Spirit was not yet given; 
because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 
vii, 38, 39). 

[59] 



Ci^e gintuatu Itgi^t 



Here are two distinct utterances: The former 
was spoken by Jesus, the latter is an inter- 
pretation of His words by the writer of the 
fourth gospel. With some, the authority of 
the interpretation may depend on their theory 
concerning the authorship of that gospel. If 
the writer was the beloved disciple the inter- 
pretation will command assent at once ; if the 
author was some unknown spiritual genius, 
writing a hundred years later, recognition of 
the right of authoritative interpretation may 
be more grudgingly given. We will presume 
for the time that this gospel was written by 
John, in spite of whatever evidence may be 
adduced to the contrary, for this interpre- 
tation of the work of the Spirit harmonizes 
with all that we know of what Jesus taught 
His disciples concerning this subject. The 
Master was speaking to seekers after truth 
rather than to the select circle of His fol- 
lowers. In effect He says, " If you are really 
athirst for God, and for reality, come to me, 
trust me, believe on me, and you shall be 
so full of the true life that it will flow out 
[60] 



Spirit anD life 



of you as waters from an overflowing foun- 
tain. In other words, if you really prefer 
truth and right, come into close personal 
relation with me, and you will receive in 
abundance what you desire." This exhorta- 
tion, the writer of this gospel says, refers to 
the Spirit which was to be received but which 
was not yet given because Jesus was not yet 
glorified. Concerning this passage Meyer 
says : " The water which he drinks becomes 
in his body a spring from which streams of 
living water flow; i.^., the Divine grace and 
truth which the believer has received out of 
Christ's fulness into his inner life does not 
remain shut up within, but will communi- 
cate itself in abundant measure as the life- 
giving stream to others, and thus the new 
Divine life flows from one individual on to 
others." Again, Meyer refers to the state- 
ment in the thirty-ninth verse as relating " to 
those streams of new life which flowed forth 
from the lips of believers, and which were 
originated and drawn forth by the Holy 
Ghost." Reduced to the simplest terms, this 
[61] 



Ci^e 3JntDarD JLtgi^t 



means that if those who are athirst for truth 
and right will accept Jesus and follow Him, 
they will be enabled to live the life of the 
Spirit, to realize the power of the Spirit, and 
to help others to do the same. 
But what about the declaration that the 
Spirit was not yet given? That does not indi- 
cate that the Holy Spirit until then had been 
absent from the universe, or that His energy 
had never before been felt, as some igno- 
rantly declare. To affirm that is to deny the 
Divine omnipresence, and to reduce the Spirit 
to human proportions. The real meaning is, 
that the flowing forth of the new life and 
power from Christ's disciples, and through 
the Church, was not to take place until He 
had gone away; then the Spirit was to enter 
on His Christian manifestation. " Till then 
the believers were dependent on the personal 
manifestation of Jesus" (Meyer), but after 
His departure they would appreciate and 
respond to the power of His spiritual pres- 
ence. The Spirit has always been efficient in 
the creation, in the lives of men, in the devel- 
[62] 



^pitit and life 



opment of history ; but after the revelation 
in the Christ a new vision of God and of His 
kingdom was possible. While Jesus was with 
the disciples it was inevitable that they should 
regard Him as an end; it was, therefore, as 
He said, expedient for them, and necesary for 
His work, that He should go away, in order 
that the glory of His person and the magni- 
tude of His mission might be understood. 
When that should be appreciated a grander 
era in human history would dawn, and the 
life that was in Christ would begin to flow 
from His disciples, and later from those who 
should enter through them into His fellow- 
ship; and thus like a river of light would 
that life extend and expand, until the king- 
doms of the earth should become a part of 
the kingdom of God. 

The Spirit has never been nearer to one place 
than to another, and never more efficient in 
one time than in another. God ought not to 
be represented as coming or going, except as 
a condescension to human limitations. He is 
everywhere and with all. But after the Ascen- 
[63] 



C^e 31ttt»atli Uqfyt 



sion a clearer revelation of God was possible, 
because henceforward He could be interpreted 
in the terms of Jesus Christ. That event 
marked the beginning of a larger and truer 
appreciation of God's fatherhood and pur- 
pose to save; consequently it opened a new 
epoch in the life of humanity. From that 
moment, as never before, Spirit became life. 
The forces which are lifting individuals, in- 
stitutions, and the whole human family, to 
Christian levels are all from Him. Spirit, as 
the fountain from which this higher energy 
emerges, is spelled with a capital S ; and spirit 
as the life in humanity which is bearing fruit 
in love and service, faith and holy conduct, is 
spelled with a small s; but the word in both 
instances is composed of the same letters, 
and the reality behind the letters is the same 
whether it be cause in God or life in man. 
Spirit is life in the history of mankind, and 
Spirit is light because it is life. " The Life 
was the light of men." Spirit is unhindered by 
physical limitations. Spirit is everywhere that 
the Christian revelation has gone and every- 
[64] 



Spirit anD Life 



where that personality is found. Within all 
men, therefore, is all the light which they 
need for illumination and guidance. " Ye 
have an unction from the Holy One, and need 
not that any man should teach you." This 
was spoken especially of the disciples of 
Christ, but potentially and in a limited sense 
it is true of all men. 

The Quakers are quite right; there is an In- 
ward Light which is in all men, as a part of 
God's fatherly gift to them of humanity. 
" When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come. 
He shall guide you into all the truth; and 
He shall declare unto you the things that are 
to come" (John xvi, 13). What does this 
mean.^ That some external supernatural light, 
in some strangely mystical way, falls upon 
us and illuminates our path.? Does it not 
mean, rather, that within all men there is 
light — obscured, perhaps, yet surely there — 
which is sufficient for all duties ; that the 
candle in every soul is lighted from God, who 
is the Sun ; and that it is every man's supreme 
duty and privilege to use the light which 
[65] 



Ci^e 3IntDarD JLtgl^t 



shines within, and which will never fail those 
who are pure in mind and loyal in heart? 
Of course, that leads directly to the conclu- 
sion that the authority both as to belief and 
as to conduct is to be found within, and not 
without. This, to some, may sound revolu- 
tionary, but it is only going back to EHjah's 
time, and recognizing that God is in the still 
small voices rather than in the fire and in the 
earthquake. Holy Scripture, and experience, 
clearly teach that within the soul athirst for 
God is One who will answer all its questions 
and satisfy all its desires. 
More emphasis ought to be placed on the 
reality of the Inward Light. What men most 
need is not new emphasis on what is written 
without, but clearer appreciation of what is 
written within. Let me honestly, and with fear- 
lessness, study the truth as God has implanted 
it in my own soul. The chief spiritual diffi- 
culty of our time is the fact that so few are 
willing to know themselves. " Know thyself," 
for thus, and thus only, may you hope to 
know God. It may be replied, " Then all 
[66] 



^pivit and life 



authoritative standards go ; then the guess of 
one man is as good as that of another," etc. 
But at this very point is the mistake. I am not 
speaking of the guesses of any man, but, 
instead, insisting that the truth which we 
need to know is written within as surely, if 
not as clearly, as without ; that it was within 
before it was without; that it was expe- 
dient for Jesus to go away in order that 
the eyes of His disciples might no longer be 
monopolized by His person, but be turned 
inward ; that we have no more sacred obliga- 
tion than to study the truth which stands re- 
vealed in the Inward Light, and that no man 
who is perfectly loyal to himself can at the 
same time be false to God. This is not intro- 
spection, which is merely thinking of our- 
selves to find what of self is written there ; it 
is rather the study of our own soul-processes, 
to find what God has written and is still 
writing there. Those who do that will not 
be disappointed. " What shall we believe 
about God? " Enter into thy closet; shut the 
door; honestly ask. What does the still voice 
[67] 



Ci^e antoatu Itgi^t 



declare God must be? and then go out into 
the world and dare to trust the answer. What 
ought I to do in this hour of moral perplex- 
ity? If I take a certain course some one may 
be hurt; if I do not take it some one else 
may be displeased. What shall I do? Ask the 
Church? It is composed of men as limited as 
I know myself to be. Open the Bible ? It deals 
with principles, but here is a concrete and 
almost desperate situation. What course re- 
mains? I will turn my eyes inward; I will 
honestly face what I find written there. I 
shall never fail to find in my inmost soul 
that which I know to be right, even though 
to confess it may be a difficult task. Whittier 
was a true prophet when he wrote: 

" So to the calmly gathered thought 
The Innermost of truth is taught, 
The mystery dimly understood. 
That love of God is love of Goody 
Andj chiefly its divinest trace 
In Him of Nazareth^ s holy face; 
That to be saved is only this — 
Salvation from our selfishness; 
[68] 



^ptttt and life 



From more than elemental fire, 

The souVs unsandified desire; 

From sin itself, and not the pain 

That warns us of its chafing chain; 

That worship^ s deeper meaning lies 

In mercy, and not sacrifice; 

Not proud humilities of sense, 

And posturing of penitence. 

But lovers unforced obedience; 

That Book and Church and Day are given 

For man, not God — for earth, not heaven — 

The blessed means to holiest ends. 

Not masters, but benignant friends; 

That the dear Christ dwells not afar. 

The king of some remoter star. 

Listening, at times, with flattered ear 

To homage wrung from selfish fear; 

But here, amid the poor and blind. 

The bound and suffering of our kind, 

In works we do, in prayers we pray, 

Life of our life, He lives to-day. ^^ 

Whittier, " The Meeting. '' 

The spirit of man under the leadership of 
the Spirit of God, and thus the God within 
all, is the inspirer and motive of duty. The 
Spirit is both light and power. It is one 
[69] 



Ci^e SlntwarD Uqfyt 



thing to discover a duty, and quite another 
to be impelled to its performance. The dis- 
ciples knew nearly, if not quite, as much 
before the Ascension as afterward; but the 
departure of Jesus was needed in order that 
they might appreciate what He had taught 
them, and be impelled to put their knowledge 
into character. Absence was necessary in order 
that light might become power. 
Pentecost was not so much a manifestation 
of something coming from without, as the 
outflowing of a Spirit dwelling within. This 
internal force became operative when the dis- 
ciples learned that it was best for Jesus to 
leave them, in order that the sovereignty of 
the Spirit might be recognized. Where is the 
supreme moral dynamic? Does it reside in 
duty as duty.'^ There is nothing attractive 
in sacrifice, in the cost of patriotism, in re- 
fusal to yield to the desires and impulses of 
the senses. Duty often requires crucifixion of 
the desires. Soldiers do not go into battle 
for the pleasure of it ; no missionary chooses 
isolation and social hunger for the happiness 
[70] 



Spirit and life 



which they give. The power that attracts 
toward holy conduct does not inhere in the 
thing to be done, for that may be extremely 
distasteful. Righteousness is seldom the result 
of reverence for external authority. Com- 
mands are efficient only as there is force 
behind them sufficient to impel obedience. 
Neither heroic enterprise, nor even the hum- 
blest act of self-denial, is ever virtuously 
performed because of compulsion from with- 
out. If undertaken from such a motive the 
act ceases to be virtuous. But men are im- 
pelled toward goodness; they choose to deny 
their most imperious desires ; they go on long 
journeys, undertake perilous tasks, elect 
courses which mean the defeat of long- 
cherished plans — for what reason? Because 
they are consecrated to the realization of the 
superlative human ideal — the ideal actual in 
Jesus Christ. Toward that mark they press 
with unfaltering faith and with deathless 
devotion, because they are impelled by the 
spirit (spelled with a small s) which has been 
inspired by the Spirit (spelled with a capital 
[71] 



m^t 91«t»at:D Itgl^t 



S). The spirit of man thus becomes not only 
hght, but power also; and wherever it is not 
obstructed, pure thoughts, heroic action, and 
noble service are as natural and as sure as 
fruit in the autumn. A man has only to yield 
himself to the transcendent yet immanent 
Spirit, and virtue and goodness will flow from 
him as water from a fountain. 
This fact has had many conspicuous illus- 
trations, but often the truest evidence of the 
Spirit's efficiency is found in the fidelity of 
obscure people to humble duties. A woman, 
in patience enduring a beast of a man, some- 
times shows more heroism than has ever been 
seen upon a battle-field. A young man 
amazed his friends by withdrawing from a 
lucrative business because his employer had 
asked him to do what would be wrong. That 
required moral courage of the finest quality. 
Such acts are the natural fruits of the Spirit. 
Spirit is life, and life is always power. A 
growing seed will split a rock, and somehow, 
and sometime, the Spirit which is in man, 
which I do not try to define, but whose mani- 
[72] 



^pitit anD life 



festations are as evident as flying clouds, or 
waving forests, or fruitful harvests, will 
break through the inherited tendencies tow- 
ard selfishness and sin, and, casting aside evil 
environments, will lift individuals and the 
race far toward the fulness of Christ. 
Spirit, which is life, is the cause of progress ; 
it is the efficient agent in evolution. What is 
evolution? It is the gradual development, 
according to inherent laws, of a resident 
force. What is that force? I choose to call 
it spirit — and not spirit spelled with a small 
s alone, but spirit spelled with a small s 
touched with Spirit spelled with a capital S. 
Evolution may be defined as the process by 
which the Spirit immanent in the universe 
responds to the Spirit who transcends the 
universe; yet both are one. Since the begin- 
ning of the Christian era a steady movement 
upward has been evident among all nations. 
The ideals of men have risen, their mutual 
relations have become more amicable, their 
laws and institutions more humane, their 
moral standards purer. The whole surface of 
[73] 



m^t %nyx>atti itgi^t 



society, which in the time of the Caesars was 
a moral desolation, with here and there oases, 
has now come to resemble a harvest-field, with 
here and there rocks and morasses. The con- 
trast between the world in our day and in 
that day is almost startling. Progress has been 
steady, if not swift. Before, the inquiry was 
as to how to promote personal morality ; now 
we are looking for a power strong enough to 
insure the moral progress of the common 
humanity. That power is the Spirit, of which 
Jesus spoke in the seventh chapter of the 
Gospel of John. The Spirit in man means 
the Spirit in society, in politics, in all hu- 
man relations. Sooner or later He will uplift 
the universal life. As water falls only to rise 
again, so the Spirit in man tends ever to 
return to its source, at the same time rais- 
ing the entire social organism. Psychologists 
teach that God is immanent in man's subcon- 
sciousness. What is progress, but the world's 
subconsciousness slowly coming to realize its 
divine origin and goal? What is the force 
resident in society which always impels it 
[74] 



^pivit ani) life 



upward? Since Christ's advent we have seen 
that there have been clearer visions of truth, 
saner ideals of duty, more general human 
amelioration ; and now the movement upward 
is swifter than ever before. This world-wide 
upward tendency is the result in humanity 
of the operation of the Spirit which was in 
Jesus. 

The Spirit of truth, leading men into all 
truth, with the consequent moral, social, and 
political transformations, constitutes human 
progress. And who shall limit the sphere of 
the Spirit's activity? It studies the starry 
heavens, and finds there evidences of its own 
origin; it examines the human personality, 
and comes to the conclusion that that per- 
sonality must survive bodily death; it ex- 
plores the spaces, and finds that they may 
be made vocal with the messages of man; it 
recognizes truth in its myriads of forms of 
expression, and preserves them in literature, 
art, and music; and most of all it seeks to 
improve the human condition. With the re- 
lease of the body from all sense-bondage, 
[75] 



Cl^e 3|ntDarD Kgl^t 



and with its perfection and health, the Spirit 
itself will have a finer and truer vehicle for 
its expression. As I study the human land- 
scape, it seems to me that life is everywhere 
rushing forward toward nobler manifesta- 
tion; that it is Hke a garden where all the 
plants, shrubs, and trees are hurrying toward 
the blossoming-time. The secret is not in death 
— if there is any death ; it is in life — in spirit, 
even the spirit in man, which is first the Spirit 
of God, and not less the Spirit of God because 
also the spirit in man. 

The spiritualization of all men, and of all 
institutions, is the goal of history. 
What is meant by the spiritualization of all 
men and institutions? Are not all men spirits? 
Yes, but all do not live in the realization of 
their origin and destiny. The spiritual being 
has been evolved, but he often turns back to 
the fleshly condition from which he has risen, 
and, losing himself amid the rudiments of 
this world, fails to know himself to be a 
spirit. Individuals are spiritualized when 
they realize that they have come from God, 
[76] 



Spirit and life 



and live according to their higher rather than 
their lower natures. And this is the lesson of 
lessons, actually to appreciate that we are 
spirits, and that, as naturally as flowers 
turn toward the sun, so when we are our true 
selves, we turn toward God, the Father of 
spirits, and are dissatisfied with everything 
at enmity with Him. " Thou madest us for 
Thyself, and our heart is restless until it re- 
pose in Thee." (" Confessions,^' book i, Au- 
gustine. ) A man is spiritualized when he real- 
izes himself to be a spirit, and in motive and 
action is governed by his higher nature. 
The line between the sense-life and the spirit- 
life is clear. The sense-life is the sensual 
life; it has to do with fleshly desires and 
with animal tendencies; it is that which 
allies man to animals. The spirit moves in 
a realm of freedom; it is rightfully inde- 
pendent of fleshly limitations and inclina- 
tions ; it has to do with the moral faculty, the 
higher reason, the will, and the emotions. 
Slowly through weary ages our race has 
been moving upward, away from the animal 
[77] 



Ci^e 3|tttJjatD ILtgi^t 



toward the liberty of the children of God. 
When men shall live in the consciousness 
that they are partakers of God's very being, 
and, therefore, spirits since He is Spirit; and 
when they shall dwell in harmonious relations 
with one another, as Godlike spirits surely 
must, then the race will be spiritualized, and 
the triumph of the Kingdom of God will be 
at hand. 

Many are still competing and combating 
with one another; they are like hungry bears 
fighting for meat; they think of themselves, 
and not of others. They carry their conten- 
tions not only into politics and society, but 
often even into the Church of God. Brothers 
compass sea and land to kill one another like 
angry lions and tigers; nevertheless, such 
conditions are gradually changing; justice 
is taking the place of injustice, generosity 
of greed; selfishness is giving way to sacri- 
fice; armies are drilling and battle-ships are 
being built, but wars are now the last resort, 
and soon must cease to be. The world and its 
institutions are being spiritualized. The slow 
[78] 



^pitit and Jlffe 



but certain process will go on until cruelty 
and vice shall disappear, until the war-drum 
shall throb no longer, until the reign of the 
quadruped shall be broken, until " the crown- 
ing race " shall walk this earth of ours. Then 
we shall know that the spiritualization of man 
and the perfection of institutions are the 
Kingdom of God and the fulness of Christ. 
This is what the presence of the Spirit in his- 
tory clearly prophesies. From the earliest ages 
until now humanity has been rising ; its ideals 
have become clarified; the evolution of the 
human spirit has been more and more evi- 
dently toward the Infinite Spirit. This fact 
is predicted in Holy Scripture in those texts 
which tell us that the words of Christ are 
Spirit and life, and that from all who have 
come into touch with Him the living waters 
will flow, in benefit and benediction, until indi- 
viduals and institutions, and mankind as a 
whole, shall realize, even on this earth, the life 
of the Spirit as it was in Christ. 
The Spirit of God identifying Himself with 
the spirit in man is " The Inward Light " — 
[79] 



Cl^e gintoarD JLigl^t 



the Candle of the Lord — ^the Revealer of 
truth and duty. 

He is the inspiration toward holy conduct, 
the power which causes truth to become life. 
He is the cause of progress in individuals and 
among human institutions. 



[80] 



Cl^e gntoatD ^inai 



CHAPTER FOURTH 




MOST impressive picture 
at the Royal Academy in 
London, in the season of 
1904, was one represent- 
ing Moses on Mount Sinai 
wrapped in the white light 
of the desert. He was literally clothed with 
light as with a garment. The splendor encom- 
passed him, shone through him, was radiated 
from him. The effect of the painting was 
strange and almost preternatural; but thus 
does the Hght pervade and possess men on the 
heights and in those latitudes. 
Of the light without, and which shines from 
above, all are conscious, but to the still more 
wonderful radiance which glows within many 
seem to have blinded their eyes. Yet there was 
a deep reality in the vision of John Woolman, 
of which he writes as follows in his Journal: 
" It was yet dark, and no appearance of day 
[83] 



Ci^e 9Intt)atD itgi^t 



or moonshine, and as I opened mine eyes I 
saw a light in my chamber, at the apparent 
distance of five feet, about nine inches in 
diameter, of a clear, easy brightness, and near 
its centre the most radiant. As I lay still, 
looking upon it without any surprise, words 
were spoken to my inward ear which filled 
my whole inward man. They were not the 
effect of thought, nor any conclusion in 
relation to the appearance, but as the lan- 
guage of the Holy One spoken in my mind. 
The words were certain evidence of Divine 
truth. They were again repeated exactly in 
the same manner, and then the light disap- 
peared." (" John Woolman's Journal," p. 
108.) Whatever Woolman may have said 
about this vision, few readers of this story 
would doubt that the whole experience was 
internal, and intended to affirm the authority 
of the inward voice. 

What did Immanuel Kant mean when he said 
that the two things which filled him with the 
deepest awe were the starry heavens above and 
the moral law within? Was it not that to him 
[84] 



Cl^e 31nt»at:D ^(naf 



the moral law, written in the very constitution 
of his being, was as evident as the stars in the 
heavens ? 

This picture of Moses in the Royal Academy, 
the experience of John Woolman, reformer 
and mystic, and this well-known saying of the 
greatest of modern philosophers, bring us 
face to face with the Sinai of the desert and 
with the Sinai of the soul. With the former, 
at least, most Hebrews and Christians are 
familiar ; but with the latter and nearer Sinai 
they seem not so well acquainted. The moral 
law is written in every man as clearly as the 
commandments were graven by Moses; the 
inner Sinai is quite as evident and authori- 
tative as the Sinai without, and the law in the 
soul not only antedates the Mosaic law, but 
is recognized as obligatory in regions where 
that was never heard. The Mosaic law is but 
a transcript of the eternal moral order. The 
obligations to worship, to be loyal to parents, 
to be truthful and pure, are not made duties 
by being written in the commandments, but 
they were engraven among them because they 
[85] 



Ci^e SlntJjatD Uq^t 



have been obligatory as long as man has 
existed. 

The purpose of the Creation is one. The law 
without always corresponds to the law within. 
Revelation is not an afterthought, but an un- 
veiling of truth which had always been clear 
to those who have had eyes to see. 
In what sense is the moral law written within.'* 
But why even ask this question.? Because 
many, who do not accept the authority of 
Moses as an ethical teacher, will recognize 
the value of the commandments if they are 
confirmed by the sure voices of conscience 
and of reason. Have ethical principles which 
are inculcated in the Hebrew and Christian 
Scriptures any claim on obedience other than 
the fact that they are written in our sacred 
books? They may be found in a universal 
and far older record, that is, in the very con- 
stitution of man. Will that statement stand 
the scrutiny of impartial and thorough inves- 
tigation.'* Let us inquire. 
Conscience speaks concerning every act and 
every choice, and has so spoken always and 
[86] 



Ci^e 31n^atD ^inai 



everywhere. It is not a law; it is a voice ap- 
proving or condemning, according to the 
nature of the action proposed or performed. 
Whenever any choice is to be made, the obli- 
gation to make the choice which shall har- 
monize with truth and right is felt to be 
inevitable and imperative. The task of learn- 
ing what the right is is left to the intelli- 
gence, and the result will vary according to 
the degree of the intelligence, but the duty 
to obey the right and to follow the truth is 
invariable. Conscience gives no peace until 
men walk in the way of righteousness; for 
every man that way at any given time is the 
way which, in the use of all the light that 
he can get, he believes to be the right one. 
" Thou shalt do the right," and " Thou shalt 
not do the wrong," or the consciousness of 
ought and ought not, are far older than the 
thunders of Sinai ; and they would have been 
just as emphatic if Moses had never lived, 
and if there had been no Sinai. Those who 
listen hear that voice, and from it no one 
can utterly escape. Why should we do right.? 
[87] 



Cl^e 3Intr)arD ligi^t 



Why should we refuse to do wrong? Because 
in no other way can we be loyal to ourselves, 
or be at peace. The duty of obeying the Deity 
when He speaks within is quite as imperative 
as when He speaks from without. Conscience 
is eternal and universal. Every " Thou shalt " 
in the Bible is but an echo of an older " Thou 
shalt " in the human soul. Conscience is not 
a primary source of knowledge; it is rather 
the soul, insisting that what the intellect dis- 
cerns to be the right path shall be followed. 
A few illustrations of how the moral law is 
written within will help toward a clearer un- 
derstanding of the subject. 
" Thou shalt have no other gods before me.'' 
A recent writer suggests that this command- 
ment shows mere rivalry among deities. " I, 
the Lord thy God, am a jealous God," etc., 
indicates, he continues, that Jehovah was 
jealous of the deities of other nations. Pos- 
sibly, but it is somewhat surprising that that 
interpretation was never thought of before. 
Is not the following nearer the truth? The 
first commandment is an assertion of the unity 
[88] 



Ci^e 91ntx)arD ^inai 



of God, and of the fact that recognition of 
the claims of rival deities would end in moral 
chaos ? This is the essence of the first command- 
ment: One supreme power on whom all are 
dependent, and one alone, should be wor- 
shipped. " But men have believed in many 
gods." In one sense, yes, and in another, no. 
They have believed in their god, and that 
their god was mightier than all others. Does 
not this imply that all men have recognized 
an Unseen Power, that He was greater than 
others, and that it was their duty to be loyal 
to Him? The Greeks worshipped many gods, 
but only one of them was king. With them 
Fate was supreme, for even Zeus at the last 
had to bow to it. 

That which distinguished the Hebrew con- 
ception of the Almighty, separating it from 
those in the ethnic religions, was the belief 
that He was perfectly good, and that the 
moral order was the expression of His essen- 
tial Being. The recognition of the duty of a 
given people to be loyal to such an idea of 
the Deity as has been possessed by that people 
[89] 



Ci^e 3|nti[)atti Ifgl^t 



is universal, and as old as history. The He- 
brew Jehovah was an ethical Being, more 
worthy of reverence than others because bet- 
ter; while the Greek gods and goddesses were 
sublimated men and women, with fiery pas- 
sions and insatiable desires. 
" Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon 
the children unto the third and fourth gener- 
ation of them that hate me; and showing 
mercy unto thousands of them that love me, 
and keep my commandments." This is the 
statement of a natural law with which stu- 
dents of heredity are even more familiar than 
are the students of the Bible, and of which 
doctors of medicine are more capable ex- 
pounders than are doctors of divinity. That 
law was written in a terrible alphabet in the 
physical nature of man, before Israel as a 
people with a mission had been gathered out 
of the confused mass of humanity. Moses dis- 
covered its presence and action, and gave to 
it immortal expression. Any Buddhist priest 
might have read the same word of God if he 
had had the vision. The commandment is 
[90] 



W^t 91ntDatD ^inai 



a sententious mode of saying that wrong- 
doing results in physical degeneration, and 
that that degeneracy in the form of disease 
is transmitted to three or four generations; 
and that then Nature asserts herself and re- 
verts to her original type. Insanity will last 
for a few generations, and then the physical 
nature will get free from this special perver- 
sion. On the other hand, moral health con- 
tains in itself no seeds of decay. If left to 
itself it will never degenerate. Tendencies 
toward special forms of evil seldom reach 
beyond the fifth generation, while the influ- 
ence of holy conduct endures forever. The 
commandment is scientific. Everyone may 
know that those who live according to nature's 
laws have blessings multiplied; while those 
who disobey will suff^er in their own persons, 
and will pass their misery and weakness to 
their children, even to the third and fourth 
generation. 

Science, which is but man reading the book 

of nature, long ago discovered all this; and 

anyone who is willing to see things as they 

[91] 



Cl^e SlntJjarD JLtgi^t 



are may verify the statement by looking 
within and following his own choices to their 
inevitable results. 

The fourth commandment furnishes another 
illustration, which may be easily verified. Is 
that the utterance of a provincial religionist, 
who if he had known more would have writ- 
ten more wisely.'^ It is rather an eternal and 
universal law put into human language by 
one who saw what his countrymen did not 
see, because their burdens were so heavy and 
their live so dreary that they had no desire 
exhaustively to study anything, not even 
their own hearts. The setting apart of one 
day in seven for rest and worship was due, 
primarily, to the fact that the human machine 
will run six days with ease and regularity, if 
it can rest on the seventh day, but that it will 
creak and break if it is pushed on through 
every day alike. The duty of rest is quite as 
imperative as the necessity of work. The in- 
dividual or the nation that disregards this 
law pays the penalty ; and, speaking with per- 
fect reverence, we may say that, however 
[92] 



Ci^e SIntDatD ^imi 



much it may gain in emphasis, the duty to 
observe the Sabbath gains nothing in obhga- 
tion because of the indorsement by Moses. The 
world needed then, as it needs now, to be 
reminded of the inevitable results of neglect 
of this evident natural law; therefore Moses 
wrote. 

The filial relation and the command to obey 
parents is an equally impressive illustration. 
The filial obligation has long been recog- 
nized, in many forms and in varying degrees, 
among people by whom the laws of Moses 
were not even known. The Chinese and 
Japanese place loyalty to parents above loy- 
alty to wife and children. The filial rela- 
tion did not begin to exist when the Deca- 
logue was written ; it is, and always has been, 
in the nature of things. The Hebrew ethics 
are in no true sense original; they are as old 
as the Creation. They were put into human 
language for the sole purpose of enforcing 
eternal truths. No ethical principle derives its 
authority from the teacher who first gave it 
currency. The teacher is an authority only 
[93] 



Cifte fntJjarD Uqfyt 



so far as he has the vision to discern essen- 
tial truths. Human laws may be arbitrary, 
but every Divine law rests upon an evident 
reason. An autocrat may say, " My will is 
reason enough " ; but our heavenly Father 
adapts His commands to the condition of 
His children, and their need is the justifica- 
tion of His law. 

The ethical teachings of Jesus, also, like thos^ 
of the elder law-givers, are trg«iscripts of what 
long before were written in the body and soul 
of man. He taught that pure thoughts are a 
condition of virtuous conduct and holy char- 
acter. As a man thinks, sooner or later he will 
act. The* connection between the mental state 
and outward conduct was discerned rather 
than constituted by Jesus. He spoke truths 
of which anyone else, who had studied to 
an equal depth what was written in his own 
soul, might have spoken. 

Jesus commanded men to love their enemies — 
why.'^ Because it is the only way in which 
enmity can be changed into friendliness, and 
peace be brought out of discord. Why do 
[94] 



Ci^e SimDatD ^inai 



not all see that for themselves? Fight an 
enemy, and you make him a thousand-fold 
more your enemy; the only way to conquer 
his hostility is to love him. A man may be 
crushed by force, but his hostility can be over- 
come only by gracious ministries and loving 
service. 

Jesus said again, " Blessed are the pure in 
heart, for they shall see God." This is a 
universal ethical law. Spiritual vision is con- 
ditioned on moral purity. When was that first 
discovered.'^ When was it not true.'^ 
The final word in human ethics is the com- 
mand of Jesus, " Ye shall love one another, 
as I have loved you." Nothing more can be 
asked of any man than that love should not 
falter even in the face of death. Was that a 
new law, or an old law written large in the 
blood of the Cross.? It is no detraction from 
the unique grandeur of the character of Jesus 
to say that it is the nature of love to give 
itself for Its own, and that the sacrifice of 
the Cross was a necessity to Jesus. Accord- 
ing to its perfection, love must sacrifice. The 
[95] 



m^t gintoatti Ltgi^t 



unique quality of the command of Jesus was 
not in any new interpretation of the nature 
of love, or in the fact that love must reach 
even unto death ; rather was it in its inclusive 
quality. His love included all men; racial an- 
tipathies and social gradations had no place 
in His thoughts. He regarded all men as 
actually brothers, whether they knew it or 
not. His cross illustrates the inevitable reach 
of love when given a full opportunity of ex- 
pression. Love, as pure affection, is the same 
whether it be in a child or in an adult, in a 
man or in God. Love, if need arise, must die 
for its object ; there is no way of escape except 
by ceasing to love. Love is old as the Crea- 
tion, as old as God. The highest expression of 
ethical law that was ever spoken, or written, 
is thus seen to be but a leaf out of the his- 
tory of the soul. 

In this study I am dealing only with essen- 
tial morality. Minor questions may arise as 
to usages or customs which are matters of 
opinion merely, and of no vital relation to the 
moral life. Shall I be baptized by immersion, 
[96] 



Ci^e SIntjjatD ^inai 



or by sprinkling? Shall I use a liturgy, or 
worship in the spirit alone, as the Quakers 
do? Shall I be a member of this society, or 
that? Such inquiries sometimes, to narrow or 
diseased minds, seem to have importance. It 
is a sad fact that, in spite of the warning of 
Jesus against Phariseeism, so many should 
still be paying tithes of rite, creed, symbol, 
and neglecting love, justice, and loyalty to 
conscience, which are essential to righteous- 
ness. 

The Inward Sinai is a reality ; what follows ? 
All men are responsible for their conduct, 
because they carry around with them the 
ethical laws which they need. It would be 
monstrous to think that men could be pun- 
ished for the violation of laws the existence 
of which it was impossible for them to know. 
I must confess that there is one side of this 
subject on which I have little light. Why do 
so many people suffer for the sins of others? 
Who phall explain this mystery? Every man 
possesses sufficient knowledge of right and of 
wrong to enable him to choose the right and 
[97] 



Ci^e SlntDarn Jltgi^t 



to reject the wrong. All men have the light 
which they need; therefore they are without 
excuse when they do wrong. Yet some per- 
sons begin to move downward before they 
become conscious that they are free agents: 
what of them.? Some are bom with crippled 
wills: what of them.'^ They are not outside 
the love of God, and no injustice can be 
done to them. " To one fixed stake my spirit 
clings: I know that God is good." But most 
men might know the truth and do the right, 
if they would ; and their condemnation is not 
in the fact that they reject a standard which 
this or that self -constituted authority has set 
up, but because they are untrue to the revela- 
tions of the hght which shines within. 
The unity of human life has many beauti- 
ful illustrations. Vital ideals are not differ- 
ent in any land* There is not one ethical 
code for India, another for Japan, and an- 
other for Anglo-Saxondom. There is diver- 
sity of knowledge, there are degrees of 
attainment; but when men the world around 
report what they see in the Inner Light, they 
[98] 



Ci^e 31ntDatli ^inai 



alike confess that they should bow before the 
highest authority of which they know; that 
they ought to cherish their parents and their 
children; that purity is the condition of 
spiritual vision; that to love one another is 
better than sacrifices and liturgies; and that 
pure love cannot stop short of willingness to 
die for its object. 

Many errors cause antagonisms in society; 
selfish interests are always divisive; nations 
often represent little but organized greed; 
religions in the past have sometimes sepa- 
rated people even more than they have united 
them. As we study the sad and awful contro- 
versies which have darkened human history, 
we question if better times will ever come. 
But while knowledge is of different degrees, 
conscience speaks clearly to all, and there is 
little if any difference, even among people 
widely separated, concerning the fundament- 
als of the ethical life. The ultimate moral 
ideals are nearly the same in every land, and 
there is little difference between the Orient 
and the Occident as to what is essential to 
[99] 

LOFC. 



Ci^e SltttoarD JLtgi^t 



goodness. This is one of the most encourag- 
ing of prophecies. It presages a time when 
all the nations will be united in their deepest 
interests. There will be not only cooperation 
among the states, but something vastly more 
fundamental and more vital, viz., unity at the 
very source of history, at the fountain from 
which proceed all plans, policies, purposes, 
and achievements. The Inward Sinai is a 
sublime prediction of the unity of life and 
of the goal of the Creation. 
This study has discovered not only an Inward 
Sinai, but also an Inward Judgment, which 
surely points toward an outer and a universal 
judgment. The swift internal condemnation 
which follows every wrong choice is a fact in 
the moral history of the race which cannot be 
evaded. Consciousness at this point is singu- 
larly emphatic. The problem with the average 
man is, " How may I escape from that retribu- 
tion whose justice I cannot deny?" Remorse 
is the reaction in the soul of the judgment 
which conscience has pronounced. 
Moral laws carry with them their own judg- 
[100] 



Ci^e SlntoatD ^tnat 



ment-day, and no emergencies ever arise 
which cloud its solemn splendor. The re- 
action of wrong-doing, or even of wrong- 
thinking, is swift and inevitable. If one 
spends an hour with salacious imaginations; 
if he appropriates even a dollar which does 
not belong to him ; if he yields to his temper 
and violently denounces one whom he has mis- 
understood, the condemnation will be instan- 
taneous. Many try to hide from the penalty 
which has been passed on them by their own 
moral nature. They are vainly seeking to flee 
from an inward Nemesis; no one but them- 
selves knows of the wrong which they have 
done; no ear but their own has heard the 
verdict pronounced on them; their secret 
would not be more secure at the bottom of 
the sea ; and yet they can elude this avenging 
Deity no more than they can escape from 
their own shadows. 

The Sinai of the desert, and the Judgment- 
day, wore facts in the history of the soul 
long before there was any hint of them else- 
where. Their subjective reality was a silent 
[101] 



Cl^e 91nt»at:li y^t 



but sure prophecy that sometime they would 
have objective existence also. 
What is the origin of these experiences? 
What is the genesis of this internal moral 
law and this judgment-seat? 
Can they be accounted for by evolution? 
And if they can be so explained, do they not 
lose their note of inevitability and moral im- 
perative? Evolution does not necessarily im- 
ply self -origination. What grows in any soil 
must first have been planted therein. Even 
the universal moral order is the outgrowth 
of Divine seed. Conscience loses nothing of 
its authority because it may be a product of 
evolution. Evolution is simply the path by 
which any being, or any institution, or the 
universe itself, reaches the maturity of its 
development. If it be the will of the Deity 
to realize Himself in humanity by means of 
a process, He does not thereby cease to be 
Deity, nor does He lose anything of His 
authority. The moral law is written in the 
soul of man as clearly as any article is written 
in the code of Justinian, or in the works of 
[ 102] 



Ci^e Slntuarti ^inai 



Confucius, or in the sacred books of the He- 
brews; and its authority is not dependent on 
the book in which it is written ; it is guaran- 
teed by its evident truthfulness as it appears 
in the Inward Light. The ultimate authority 
for all ethical ideals is in the Being from 
whom they have come; the nearer authority 
is in the truth to which they give expression ; 
and the vehicle of their revelation is of value 
only so far as it transmits the truth without 
loss of power. 

The utterance of the oracle, " Know thyself," 
derives new significance from this study. Self- 
knowledge is the first duty of man, because 
nowhere as within his own soul can he be so 
sure of God or of the Divine Will. 
How may men learn to read the laws which 
are written in this Inward Sinai? This is a 
simple question, yet an answer is not easy. 
For long ages inquirers have been taught to 
look without, and it seems almost sacrilegious 
to intimate that any may find Divine reve- 
lations within themselves. Moreover, with 
many there is a lurking feeling that to do 
[ 103 ] 



Ci^e 9Int»arD iLtgi^t 



so is to substitute for a real ethical law 
only a subjective imagination; that it is to 
turn from revelation to naturalism. Nothing 
could be further from the facts. Truth is 
truth and right is right wherever they are 
found, and " God manifests Himself in many 
ways.'' If one would know his duty, he must 
dare to turn his eyes inward and fearlessly 
read what is written there ; he must ask him- 
self what, apart from all his desires, he ac- 
tually finds to be right. If the Hindoo 
mother had listened to her heart, she would 
never have thrown her child into the Ganges ; 
if Christians would take counsel of their own 
love, they would not fear lest God should 
sometime cast off those whose chief faults are 
due to their heredity or to their environment ; 
and if he who hesitates as to duty would heed 
the law within, he would not be allowed to go 
far away from wisdom and virtue. All that 
we might like to know may not be written 
within ; but all that we need to know is there 
clearly expressed. The law in the soul is as 
evident and imperative as the law without, 
[ 104] 



€i)t 3IntDarD ^(nai 



and the Sinai of the desert is the manifesta- 
tion in the terms of time and space of the 
everlasting moral order. 



[105] 



Cl^e ^anctitt of jDut^ 



CHAPTER FIFTH 

Cl^e ^anttitv of HButi^ 




HAT is duty? It is some- 
thing which is due either 
to one's self or to another. 
It carries with it the idea 
of obHgation. My duty is 
what I ought to do because 
of what I am, because of what I have prom- 
ised, or because of some claim which another 
has upon me. It implies a debt which must 
be paid. It is an inward revelation. The 
word of no man, or body of men, is authori- 
tative if it is not indorsed by the reason and 
moral sense. The reason may be ignorant 
and the moral sense without illumination, but 
whatever the degree of their intelligence, the 
external command must have their indorse- 
ment before it becomes imperative. The intel- 
lect and the conscience, in themselves, are not 
the Inward Light, but they are the organs by 
which that Light reveals duty as such, and 
[109] 



Ci^e 31nt»at:li U^\^t 



without which its authority would not be 
recognized. The fountain of obligation is 
God revealed in the soul of man. 
The Ten Commandments are an enumeration 
of man's chief duties. Jesus said that He came 
not to do away with any part of the law, 
but to give to it a larger interpretation. And 
here we face a fact which is often overlooked 
or misrepresented. Jesus, instead of putting 
less emphasis on duty or obligation than did 
Moses, gave to it stronger emphasis. The 
moral law was not lowered by Him; it was 
lifted to a higher range. The sanctity of 
duty could hardly have had stronger expres- 
sion than in the Sermon on the Mount. He 
based that sanctity on the clearly discernible 
relation between man and God. 
Is the consciousness of moral obligation weak- 
er than formerly? It may not be wise to 
institute comparisons, but, whether weaker or 
stronger, one fact is evident : Duty makes far 
too slight an impression upon the average 
man. He expects that things will come out 
all right, whatever he does; or he is so en- 
[110] 



Ci^e ^anctttt of J^utt 

grossed with the struggle for existence, and 
the rivalry of competition, that only one class 
of obligations receive much, if indeed any, 
attention; or the desire for pleasure has so 
taken possession of him that the solemn voice 
of responsibility is hushed. Ought not that 
long-forgotten word " duty " to be exhumed 
from the dust-heap of memory, or rescued 
from the tyranny of custom, and more widely 
made a controlling motive in conduct? The 
people of our time are distinguished by a 
willingness to drift, to leave circumstances to 
deliver them from critical conditions which 
ought rather to be recognized and faced. 
Some voice strong enough to speak once more 
" The Everlasting Yea " is sadly needed in 
these days, which are both strenuous and easy- 
going. 

The meaning of the word duty is so trans- 
parent that there is danger of its being mis- 
understood. At the risk, however, of being 
charged with a work of supererogation, a 
definition is here attempted. 
Duty is the obligation to do what one beHeves 

[111] 



Cl^e fniajarD ligi^t 



to be right, which behef is based on the reve- 
lations of the Inward Light. The responsi- 
bility of ascertaining what the right is, is 
implied, even if it seems not to be clearly made 
known. Duty is the force which impels us 
to learn what, in our circumstances and with 
our abilities, we ought to do ; and the equally 
strong imperative, which every man feels, to 
do that which he has discovered to be right. 
It is always one's duty to be honest; to keep 
promises, unless there be a valid reason for 
breaking them; to be loyal to the terms and 
intentions of a contract, and, according to 
ability and opportunity, to seek that which 
is best for ourselves and for our fellow men. 
Duty carries the idea of debt. A debt to 
whom? To ourselves, because in no other 
way can our moral sense be at peace ; to our 
fellow men, because their welfare requires 
from us that which we feel that they have 
a right to ask of us ; to the universe, because 
we are parts of the infinite unity ; and to God, 
because He has so constituted every human 
being that rest and peace can be found only 

[m] 



Cl^e ^anctitt of ?^utt 

as they are found in rendering to Him the 
things which belong to Him. Duty is a debt 
which men owe to themselves, to their fellow 
men, to the universe, and to God. 
If the consciousness of obligation be weak, ' 
persistent disregard has made it so. If any 
man can continuously ignore its claims, it is 
because his moral nature has been weakened 
or atrophied by neglect. When one is told that 
duty requires a thing, he has no difBculty in 
understanding what is meant. Some words 
carry their definitions in their faces, and duty 
is one of those words. It is the obligation to 
discover, if possible, the right, and then to 
do it. 

All men are so constituted that they recognize 
that duty is holy. A force within impels 
every human being toward truth and right- 
eousness. That fact carries with it another 
fact still more significant, viz., duty is in 
itself a revelation. If there were but one 
intelhgent being in the universe, he could feel 
no obhgation, because no one is conscious of 
any moral relation to things. When duty is 
[113] 



Ci^e SintparD Kgl^t 



violated, we experience compunction, for the 
reason that we recognize that we have neg- 
lected a person higher than ourselves. " The 
misery of self-contempt flows from some in- 
ner reverence insulted." (Martineau, " Types 
of Ethical Theory," vol. ii, p. 75.) To do 
wrong is to cause one's self to feel a pang of 
conscience, and it is also to insult a person on 
whom we feel ourselves to be dependent, and 
to whom we know ourselves to be obligated. 
The claims of right and truth are holy, and 
can be ignored only at the risk of moral peril 
and suff^ering. This fact has the force and 
evidence of an elemental law. We owe it to 
ourselves, and we owe it to the Being whose 
will is revealed in conscience, to be loyal to 
truth and right so far as it is possible for us 
to know them. And truth and right, so far 
as they are essential to the life of man on 
earth, are revealed within the soul of man. 
A swiftly increasing tendency to hold lightly 
the standards of fundamental morality is dis- 
cernible in our time. To talk about ethical 
loyalty is easy enough, but when we come to 
[114] 



the specific inquiry, " What is right? " a more 
difficult question is encountered. Not a few 
identify it with desire and self-interest. This is 
seen in the way in which the marriage relation 
is regarded; in the ease with which society 
drifts into gambling in private parlors and 
at fashionable resorts ; and still more lament- 
ably is it found in the toleration in ourselves, 
and in others, of personal habits that are in- 
decent and vile. The distinction between right 
and wrong is not being effaced theoretically, 
but it is practically ; and it is high time that 
our age was reminded of the grand and sim- 
ple fundamentals of the moral life, and made 
to realize that essential ethical principles are 
clearly written in the human soul, and in the 
moral order of which we are a part. When 
the inevitableness of the law and penalty is 
found in the constitution of our souls, there 
will be fewer to tolerate compromises between 
the flesh and the spirit. Neither genius nor 
social position can rightfully claim exemption 
from the moral law. If marriage is holy, 
then to treat it as if it were a mere contract 
[115] 



Ci^e 9|nt»atD Uq^t 



IS wrong. If gambling at Monte Carlo is a 
sin, then in every walk of life anything by 
which men try to get something for nothing 
is equally wrong. If impurity is a vice in 
the lower East Side of Manhattan, it is not 
less so in upper Fifth Avenue and in the 
suburbs. When men are honest with them- 
selves, there is no doubt in their own minds 
as to what they should do. The Inward 
Light illuminates the whole horizon of moral 
obligation. The pressure of the imperative 
is then distinct and strong. But here is the 
difficulty : Many who are scrupulously honest 
in their dealings with others are not honest 
with themselves. Because of heedlessness, or 
by reason of sophistry, by shutting their eyes 
to the precepts engraved within, or because 
of simple selfishness, they try to make them- 
selves believe that they are not bound by the 
same laws which bind others; they imagine 
that they can walk on hot coals without burn- 
ing their feet. But no sophistry, and no pas- 
sion, can blot out the division between the 
truth and error, and between right and wrong. 
[116] 



Cl^e ^anctitr of ?^utt 

That line of separation is in the human con- 
stitution, and it is universal and everlasting. 
The sanctity of duty is ignored by those who 
lightly hold the contracts to which they have 
subscribed. My illustration here shall be clear 
and simple. Those who enter into church- 
membership assume definite and easily under- 
stood obligations. There is little room for 
misunderstanding, and no burden is laid upon 
any. An obligation assumed in a church is of 
the same nature as every other obligation, and 
it should not be forgotten that the Church 
exists for the sake of the man, and that no 
man was brought into existence simply for 
the Church. Of course, a pledge should be 
interpreted by its spirit rather than by the 
letter. Moreover, duties do not conflict. If 
a man is called elsewhere, surely he ought not 
be at the Church. But how do many of those 
persons, who in such large numbers become 
members of the Churches, reconcile their con- 
duct with their vows? How do those who 
have time and strength for other engage- 
ments, and have no time for fulfilling their 
[117] 



Cl^e SmoatD ligl^t 



promises to the Church, reconcile their course 
with the very simple covenant into which they 
entered in becoming church members? This 
illustration brings into clear relief the ease 
and nonchalance with which solemn obliga- 
tions are ignored; it presents the subject in 
its simplest form. One would suppose that 
the claims of such a duty would be strongest, 
but in reality they seem to have no force. The 
lifting of a finger on the Stock Exchange is 
binding, even if thereby a man lose his for- 
tune ; but the covenant of a Church, even when 
entered into with the most solemn ritual, oft- 
times is laid aside as easily as a garment. This 
is one of the ethical anomalies which can be 
deplored much more easily than it can be ex- 
plained. Of course, all men live in relations, 
and our duty to one person or to one institu- 
tion has to be adjusted to our duties to other 
persons and to other institutions. A person 
has his home, and his duty to that is sacred ; 
he is a citizen, and his duty to the State is 
sacred; he has social responsibilities, and he 
ought to do his part in making the common 
[118] 



Cl^e ^ancttt^ of ^utv 

life happy and bright. All this is fully 
granted. My question has not to do with 
those who have to adjust one pledge to an- 
other, but with those who serenely ignore all 
promises ; who have money enough for pleas- 
ure, but none for charity ; who have strength 
enough for business, but none for the service 
of humanity; who have unlimited time for 
self-indulgence, but none for gatherings 
where religious questions of serious impor- 
tance are to be considered. 
All decisions should be based on moral prin- 
ciple. A man should not ask what another per- 
son thinks he ought to do, but rather should 
stand fast by what, from looking within, he 
has discerned for himself to be right. Each 
man should be loyal to his own convictions. 
For him they are the will of God. They can 
be neglected, or violated, only at the risk of 
moral atrophy and spiritual ruin. 
Another illustration of the ease with which 
fundamental obligations are ignored is found 
in the prevalent neglect by the wealthy, and 
often by the cultivated classes, of political 
[119] 



Ci^e antoatD Higl^t 



responsibilities. This evil has come to be 
recognized, in some quarters, as little less 
than calamitous. In those countries where the 
laws are made and executed by representa- 
tives of the people, wise legislation and a con- 
sistent administration of affairs depend on 
the response of all citizens to the call of the 
Government. Not only personal liberty, but 
also the moral and spiritual welfare of indi- 
viduals and of the State, depend on the 
fidelity with which political obligations are 
discharged. With what heedlessness, however, 
are they neglected by many of those who 
have most leisure and most ability ! The 
very persons who should defend the interests 
of the people, leave them to be despoiled by 
those whose eyes are open only to opportuni- 
ties of self-aggrandizement. Not a few be- 
moan conditions which they do nothing to 
improve. As to the necessity of loyalty in 
the service of the State there is no room 
for doubt. But the primary political meeting, 
where policies are determined and nomina- 
tions made, has little chance of recognition 
[ 120] 



C]^e ^anctttr of ^ntv 

when it has to compete with some social func- 
tion; and voting, which is as holy a service 
as that of worship, is forgotten in the excite- 
ment of " the races," or of a fashionable fes- 
tivity. This is not because of ignorance, but 
because those who know what is right do 
not think of the right as having imperative 
claims. Duty is always sacred. It is not like 
an external law, which can be broken with im- 
punity; it is rather an expression of truth 
which is graven in the moral order of the 
universe, and revealed in the consciousness of 
every man. The remedy for this evil lies in 
the direction of a stronger emphasis on the 
revelations of the hght that shines within. 
The tendency to neglect responsibilities is a 
disease which comes dangerously near the 
vital parts of the social organism. The State 
suffers because a large proportion of her citi- 
zens hold lightly to their political obligations. 
When men are made to realize that all duties 
are imperative, that the violation of a moral 
law involves consequences even more serious 
than the breaking of physical laws, that its 

[m] 



Cl^e 3!nt»at:D Itgl^t 



neglect is sure to result in ruin and death, 
they will with less flippancy ignore funda- 
mental morality. The only possible hope of 
better conditions is to be found in helping 
men to appreciate that whether there be ex- 
ternal legislation, or only internal revelation, 
the voice of duty has the force and sanctity of 
a Divine command. No single responsibility 
will be overlooked when all are recognized as 
sacred. 

The chief peril of modern life is that the 
people will become accustomed to asking, 
What will please? or, What will command 
applause? rather than, What is right? And 
it is not difficult for any to learn what the 
right is. No man is in any serious danger of 
going astray so long as he is faithful to his 
own inner visions, and so long as he follows 
their attractions; but when duty no longer 
holds, he is in peril of moral ruin. 
There is such a thing as slavery to duty, 
although no very large part of the human 
race is suffering from that bondage. One of 
the hardest questions which a moral leader has 
[122] 



Cl^e ^anrtitt of ^ut^ 

to answer is this : How may I present my sub- 
ject so that those who need it will feel its force, 
and so that those who are already quite care- 
ful enough about their obligations will be 
kept from feeling the weight of an added 
burden? The genius which many persons have 
for applying truths to others is equalled only 
by the anxiety of a few to take more than 
they need. 

Moral slavery results, usually, from neglect 
of proper emphasis on specific duties, rather 
than from a deliberate choice of that which 
is evil. One thinks only of his church, and 
neglects his home and his community. An- 
other is a politician ; he has time enough for 
caucuses, but none for prayer-meetings. An- 
other is engrossed in business ; he has business 
for breakfast, dinner, and supper — ^business 
all day and business all night ; if his children 
become cultured and accomplished, it will be 
because of their mother or their surround- 
ings; no credit will be due to him. Such a 
man is not a slave to duty ; he is a slave 
to his own folly. He worships at a golden 
[ 123] 



m)t antnarD Uq^t 



shrine to which he has given a sacred 
name. 

At this point we must once more consider 
the relativity of duties. It is not always 
easy to discriminate between what seems to 
be imperative and what actually is so. " Du- 
ties never conflict." Each man's duty calls 
him to do the most important thing that 
requires to be done at a given time. But 
how can that be, when at the same time we 
seem to be drawn in so many diff^erent direc- 
tions.'^ This evening I have a service at the 
church, where I am expected; at the same 
hour a primary political meeting is to be 
held and important issues are to be decided; 
my family are anxious that I should spend 
the evening with them; I am a member 
of an important committee which must con- 
vene to-night; I have some friends who will 
arrive from Europe, and they are expecting 
me to meet them; my neighbor is giving a 
reception, and he will be grieved if I am ab- 
sent; my business is confused, and requires 
every moment of my time; and now the cli- 
[ 124] 



Cl^e ^anctitt of ^utv 

max is reached — I have received a telegram 
teUing me that my father is seriously ill and 
begging me to go to him at once. Can any 
sane man insist that duties never conflict, 
when simultaneously seven voices are calling 
in different directions? The case against the 
proverb is rather strong, but most men would 
recognize but a single duty, and that the one 
which has behind it the voice of kinship. At 
the moment when that was heard all other de- 
mands ceased to be duties. When any man 
listens to the voices which speak within with a 
desire to know what their message is, he is 
seldom long left in doubt. The Inward Light 
permits no delusions. Only those who wish to 
be are deceived. There is no collision between 
duties ; what seems to be collision is only con- 
flict between desire and self-interest, on the 
one hand, with what is right on the other. 
Duty is relative to circumstances, abilities, 
and relationships. Ability is the measure of 
obligation. " Slavery to duty " is usually a 
false emphasis on what in other circumstances 
might be a duty. No man ought to ruin his 
[125] 



Ci^e gintDarD Kgi^t 



health by overwork, and very few do. No 
man ought to be so honest in stating his opin- 
ions as to misrepresent himself ; occasionally a 
very few do. It is no man's duty to give to 
charity that which belongs to his creditors; 
the number who do that can easily be counted. 
It is a sad fact, however, that most of the 
important work of the world is done by a 
limited number. The majority of people seem 
to have no feeling of responsibility, and are 
willing that their fellow men should perform 
all the labor, if only they themselves can get 
the lion's share of the profits. They allow 
others to build the churches, and then shut 
their pockets tightly when the debts are to 
be paid; they send their children to colleges 
which others have endowed, and never ask if 
they may add a little to the endowment ; they 
employ the nurses who are trained in the 
hospitals which others have erected, but never 
give anything to improve the hospitals ; they 
read the books in the libraries which others 
have built, but never give a book themselves ; 
they enjoy to the full the benefits of the com- 
[126] 



Ci^e ^anctttt of J^utt 

munity in which they dwell, but never take 
the trouble to go to a primary meeting where 
policies are settled, and they neglect often 
even to vote. They sit on cushions in the stem 
of the church boat, the municipal boat, the 
social boat, and let someone else do all the 
rowing, while they complain that the boat is 
not larger, or the cushions softer, or the 
luncheon more appetizing. 
How may men be made to realize that they 
have duties.'^ that a duty is always sacred.^ 
that when one hears its call he hears the voice 
of God? Why should the sweet compensations 
of service be left for a few to enjoy.? Why 
should the burdens of duty be left for a few 
to bear.'^ There is no higher moral or spirit- 
ual level than recognition of the sanctity of 
obligation. The best work of the world is not 
the result of compulsion ; it is rather the glad 
response of those who feel that to them has 
been offered a great privilege. Loyalty to 
duty is good, but the enthusiasm of love is 
better; the former may nerve men to stoical 
strength, but only the latter will inspire the 
[127] 



Ci^e fntuaru Higi^t 



enthusiasm of sainthood. He who obeys God 
because he knows that he ought to do so, is a 
righteous man; but he who serves his fellow 
men solely because he loves them, and not 
merely with hope of winning heaven or escap- 
ing hell, has the spirit of the Saviour of the 
world. Christianity is such a revelation of God 
as makes it possible for men to fall in love 
with Him, and therefore to be faithful, not 
merely because it is right, but because it is 
our Father's will. Those who realize that love 
besets them behind and before soon find that 
the task disappears, and that the thrill of a 
wondrous enthusiasm takes its place. The 
common injunction to spend much time with 
Jesus Christ is based on the fact that those 
who associate with Him will see as He sees, 
think as He thinks, and act from His mo- 
tives. He who reahzes that God loves him 
with all the fervor and fidelity of the passion 
that took Jesus to His cross, will be drawn to 
truth and right by the power of an infinite 
affection, as the planets are held in their or- 
bits by the attractions of the sun. 
[128] 



Ci^e ^ancttti? of ^utv 

Loyalty to duty is the noblest human achieve- 
ment ; but a passion for righteousness and an 
enthusiasm for humanity are the Divine gift 
to all who have opened mind and heart to the 
revelations of the Spirit of the universe. 
I cannot better close this chapter than by 
condensing its entire contents into two exhor- 
tations of Victor Charbanal, in " The Victo- 
rious Life," and then by adding a third: 

^^ Live your own life/^ 

" Let nothing get between your soul and the truth.'' 

Trust the Inward Light, and the pathway of 
duty will be clear. 



[129] 



Ci^e 31ntDat;D Caltat^ 



CHAPTER SIXTH 




HE greatest truths are the 
simplest, and that which 
seems to be supernatural is 
also most natural. The sol- 
emn mystery of Calvary, 
and of its cross, have been 
approached, usually, as if they were unique, 
transcending all other facts and events in 
heaven above and the earth beneath. If any- 
thing is absolutely unique it is beyond human 
ability to grasp. The being who is like no 
other being will be unintelligible to persons 
like ourselves. Uniqueness necessitates unintel- 
ligibility. If a creature is to be understood, 
he must be enough like ourselves to furnish a 
clew to his nature; and if any event is to be 
interpreted by us, or is to influence us, it must 
have relations to human beings. If the Deity 
is utterly unlike men. He will be forever un- 
knowable. If the doctrine of the Cross, which 
[133] 



m^t 3IntDarD Itgi^t 



many have regarded as the central doctrine of 
our religion, belongs exclusively to the super- 
natural, then, for all practical purposes, it 
might as well never have been formulated. 
The attraction of the Cross is in its natural- 
ness; in its humanitarian quality. It is be- 
lieved to be from above, because it is the 
idealization of that which is best in man. The 
divinest reality is the expression of all that 
is highest and most universal in humanity. 
Browning's phrase, " most human and yet 
most Divine," is strictly accurate. The most 
Divine must be seen to be most human before 
it can be understood to be most Divine. For 
us God is only that part of infinity which can 
be comprehended by beings like ourselves; 
beyond that lies mystery, but mystery as 
such has little influence. The majesty of the 
ocean fills us with awe, but that which lies 
beyond the horizon's rim makes no impres- 
sion. Our God is only so much as we can 
grasp of the Infinite. Jesus is drawing the 
world unto Himself, because wherever He is 
lifted up He is recognized as the apotheosis 
[134] 



of what IS perfect and universal in humanity. 
The Inward Calvary! At first sound that 
phrase is startling, and to some may seem 
almost shocking ; but the more it is pondered 
the more significant it appears. This is be- 
cause the thought behind the phrase is older 
even than Calvary near Jerusalem; as old, 
even, as the history of humanity. What does 
it signify? What does that other Calvary 
signify from which the name is derived? Is 
it not sacrifice for love's sake — reaching even 
to the most remote of the undeserving? No 
sacrifice, not even death, is too great for love. 
Sacrifice is the finest flower of love ; and love 
without willingness to die for the one loved 
is so far short of perfection. Calvary is the 
affirmation that sacrifice is central and vital 
in love; it is an illustration of the fact that 
love in Deity is not different in kind from 
what it is in humanity ; and that Divine love 
can be interpreted to man only in the terms 
of human sacrifice. How much does one hu- 
man being love another? " He is willing to 
die for him ! " Language can tell no more. 
[135] 



Cl^e 91nt»arD ligl^t 



How much does God love men? Again the 
answer is found in sacrifice reaching to death. 
There are mysteries here with which, as this 
is not a theodicy, it is not necessary for us 
to deal. Calvary reveals the length to which 
love, according to its perfection, must go. 
Love takes little account of worth. It reaches 
directly for being, and seldom asks as to the 
quality of the being. It will seek the best for 
the object of its devotion ; but its action often 
seems to be absurd, because it so insistently 
presses itself upon those who deserve nothing 
but reprobation. The elder brother in the par- 
able had a good case. He had a right to expect 
more than the younger, who was a reprobate ; 
yet the father gave his very best to one whose 
only record was disgrace. Illustrations of 
Love's inexplicable way of forcing itself upon 
those who are not worthy abound in all classes 
of society. Mothers will not give up vicious 
boys ; wives cling to husbands when they know 
them to be unfaithful; children return good 
for evil with a constancy that angels could 
not surpass. Love disregards consequences 
[136] 



and laughs at appearances. It is never so 
proud as when it is most humihated, if it only 
has an opportunity of serving the object of 
its affection. It is unlike anything else that is 
human. According to its approach toward 
perfection, love in man is exactly like love in 
God. The only difference is, that one is lim- 
ited and the other is absolute. 
With the external Calvary we are familiar, 
but that it is only an illustration in larger 
relations, and in objective conditions, of an 
infinite and universal principle, is a fact which 
few have firmly grasped. 
Calvary is a necessity to love. Love is always 
something inward. It manifests itself in out- 
ward acts, but the outward act is to the in- 
ward experience as a single ray of light to the 
splendor that floods the firmament. The Cal- 
vary within, or the sacrifice essential in love, 
is ever most inadequately expressed in out- 
ward symbol or event. Even the glory of the 
Cross of Christ was but a faint suggestion of 
the illimitable possibility of sacrifice which is 
forever immanent in the Almighty. 
[137] 



Ci^e 3Itttx)arD itgi^t 



Love always leads to the Cross. And why? 
Because it must, at least for a long time to 
come, live in company with suffering, sorrow, 
and sin. No theorizing as to the origin or 
uses of these dark facts is necessary here. 
Enough for our present purposes to remind 
ourselves that escape from them is impossible. 
Foolish, indeed, are those who endeavor to 
evade them by denying them. To be appre- 
ciated, they need not be emphasized. They 
force themselves on attention in their own 
remorseless way when least expected. They 
give a quality of inevitableness to Calvary, 
because it is of the nature of love to enter 
into the condition of its object and to bear 
all its burdens. 

Suppose we personify Love, and imagine her 
to be looking out over the landscape. She 
covets happiness, health, prosperity, and 
moral sanity for the objects of her affection. 
But what does she see ? Everywhere those who 
have capacity for happiness carrying about 
with them breaking hearts. " There is no God, 
the fool had said, but none. There is no sor- 
[ 138 ] 



row." Love with its infinite yearning beholds 
this barren and black desolation of grief ; can 
it do otherwise than suffer also ? But that fair 
and beautiful spirit sees not only grief, which 
she cannot at once relieve ; she sees also physi- 
cal suffering. Which is the more difficult to 
endure? No one may answer, for both are 
hard enough to bear. A brute may look on 
disease and pain and be unmoved, but the 
human being was never yet bom who did not 
suffer at the sight of sickness and death, in 
proportion as he loved those who were the 
victims. Creon, in " The Antigone," would 
not respond to compassion until calamity 
overtook his own household and death claimed 
his dearest ; then he cried : " Ah, me ! To no 
one else can this be shifted from my guilty 
self. . . . Take me, my servants, take 
me straightway hence to be no more than 
nothing." (Palmer's translation, p. 91.) 
What an epic would he compose who should 
write the story of the effect of sickness and 
pain on Love ! What a composite photograph 
would that be which should condense the faces 
[ 139 ] 



Ci^e gintoattj Uqf^t 



of all who, for Love's sake, have watched day 
and night by sick-beds and death-beds, seek- 
ing no compensation, ministering thus be- 
cause they were bound to those sufferers by 
chains stronger than steel! I have imagined, 
sometimes, that such a photograph would be 
startlingly like the face of Jesus on the cross ; 
but then I remember that the world contains 
no portrait of that face, and that such imagi- 
nations are in vain. 

Out of her casement once more looks Love, 
whom just now we are thinking of as a per- 
son with a great heart, and this day her eye 
falls on what men have been in the habit of 
calling sin. What does she behold? Human 
beings with possibilities like her own, choos- 
ing to live like beasts ; neglecting one another ; 
as bears struggle for meat, fighting for little 
pieces of yellow metal ; forgetting their man- 
hood in order to get more of it than their 
neighbors possess. She sees her very own, on 
whom she has leaned, whom she has trusted 
and believed to be pure, because of passion 
committing shameful deeds, which cause ruin 
[ 140 ] 



and misery. As she looks she hears the cries 
of children crushed by greed, of women 
starved into sin, of men weeping for those 
whom they would help but cannot, until, 
overwhelmed at the spectacle, she says. This 
sight I can endure no longer. Some way out 
of this desolation must be found, and I must 
find it ! Into this midnight Love goes seeking 
a clew out of the labyrinth of pain and sin 
and death. 

For no reason except loyalty to herself, Love 
must bear griefs and carry sorrows. She can- 
not help entering into the condition of those 
who are in need of help. Love is a slave, but 
a slave to herself. The imperative of her own 
being has the inevitableness of fate. In this 
picture she has been personified, but she is not 
a person; she is rather an essential element 
in all personality. One can imagine a person 
without hands or eyes, but a being without 
capacity for love would not be a person. 
There must be capacity to think, choose, and 
love, or personality is absent. Love is as uni- 
versal as personality, and therefore, since Love 
[1411 



C^e 3!ntJjat;D ligi^t 



must always sacrifice for its object, and since 
the more utteriy undeserving the object is the 
more Love insists on sacrifice; and because 
giving one's self for the undeserving is the 
essence of that Calvary near Jerusalem, we 
speak of the Inward Calvary, which is to be 
found in some degree in every human soul. 
Every parent carries about with him an inevi- 
table Calvary. The mother literally pours out 
herself for her child who has no claim except 
the common tie of nature. And when that child 
has grown, and forgotten his mother and dis- 
graced the very name she gave him, she does 
not change, but weeps and prays and plans 
and denies herself ease and companionship, 
and struggles on until the face grows thin 
and the hair grows white. Those who pass that 
woman on the street wonder at her features, 
so full of something which they cannot under- 
stand, yet the haunting power of which they 
cannot escape. They have caught a glimpse 
of a soul that is carrying about with it its 
own Calvary. 

Friendship is the name which is given to the 
[142] 



bond which unites two souls by love. If that 
friendship is not a mockery, they must share 
grief as well as joy. As a matter of fact, 
they do, and could not be satisfied otherwise. 
Friendship is lavish, like light; like the sun 
and rain, it goes out to the good and the bad 
alike. Is my friend crushed by the multitude 
of his afflictions? I must try to get my shoul- 
der under at least a small part of his burden. 
Has he committed a crime? In proportion to 
the genuineness of my friendship I shall think 
little of the wrong he has done me, but much 
of the depth to which he has fallen, and of 
the greatness of his need of those who are 
loyal and wise. That was a rare friend who, 
when his partner had ruined him by embez- 
zling all his securities, instead of turning 
from him, took him to his own home and kept 
him there in the society of those whom he had 
injured, but who felt no malice, until the 
throes of remorse had quieted and he was able 
to be a man again. 

The Inward Calvary is a well-nigh universal 

reality. The Cross is not an isolated event in 

[143] 



Ci^e fntDatD Ltgi^t 



a far-past age; It inheres In humanity, and 
can be evaded by no one. Love carries within 
itself the possibiHty of suffering, and while 
sin, pain, and sorrow endure, the necessity of 
suffering will also endure. Love reaches not 
simply to those who are congenial, or who 
have something to give in return, but to 
the undeserving and neglectful. Love in 
man is the very same, in Its nature, as 
that which came into preternatural ex- 
pression when the heart of Jesus broke 
on Calvary. 

What is the relation of that Inward Calvary 
to that other Calvary on which Jesus died.'* 
The one suggests the other. Is it possible to 
go further, and affirm that the former is a 
prophecy of the latter? Is there any vital re- 
lation between the two? Is the experience of 
Jesus peculiar only in so far as He, by the 
devotion and affection of His followers, has 
been hfted above other men? With Him, as 
with others, the Cross was inevitable. He 
could not have escaped it without escaping 
from Himself. Because of the perfection of 
[ 144] 



His being, His Cross was the most conspicu- 
ous in history. Its power to redeem was not 
in its unhkeness to other crosses, but in the 
fact that it showed that the highest in hu- 
manity and the fulness of divinity ahke yield 
to the necessity of sacrificing for the unde- 
serving. God is love ; Love is God ; whosoever 
loveth is bom of God. That love is of God, 
and that all love is sacrificial, we know; but 
whether the sacrifice of Jesus derives its pre- 
eminence from its likeness to that of other 
men, or from its singular transcendence, is 
a question of no importance. It was a typical 
human experience, and it was a revelation of 
God; and the clearest revelation of God that 
any have, they derive from those human be- 
ings who most loyally love. Love, according 
to the degree of its perfection, is a revelation 
of the Deity. It is not possible to imagine any 
love as more nearly perfect than that dis- 
played on " The Green Hill Far Away." It 
was absolutely unselfish, and it included with- 
in its gracious ministries the most hostile 
and undeserving; therefore it is rightfully 
[145] 



Ci^e giniajatt) Itgi^t 



regarded as a Divine revelation. But love is 
not less Divine because in its essence it is al- 
ways the same. It may differ in degree, but 
never in kind. The ocean which pours its 
floods into some great gulf is not less the 
ocean because at the same time it fills to run- 
ning over a thousand little bays and estuaries ; 
and the light which glorifies the great eastern 
window of Westminster Abbey is the same 
light that, softened and subdued, fills the 
chapels and cloisters, and even creeps into the 
crypt. To say that the sacrifice of a mother's 
heart, or the giving of a friend's life for one 
whom he would save, diff^ers nothing in its 
nature from the sacrifice of Christ, detracts 
nothing from the glory of that perfect obla- 
tion of which our poorer offerings are types 
and prophecies. 

What is the relation between the Inward and 
the Outward Calvary ? The Inward shows that 
the Outward was inevitable, because the par- 
tial is always the prophecy of the perfect, 
and the limited of the absolute. The proof 
that sacrifice pervades the universe, and be- 
[146] 



Ci^e 9IntoatD Calijatt 

longs even In the nature of God, is found in 
its presence in ourselves. If our love, imper- 
fect as it is, reaches to and includes the most 
undeserving, much more must that perfect 
love which is above the limitations of weak 
and wearied humanity, and which is able to 
discern the worth of being as our poor powers 
can never do. 

These thoughts, to one who meditates much 
upon them, are august and overwhelming. 
They represent the whole created universe as 
coming into manifestation on the cross of 
Jesus. In that cross was revealed a glimpse 
of the absolute love, which in no way differs 
essentially from the love in human hearts, ex- 
cept that it is vaster. The universe is not cruel. 
It is " red in tooth and claw " only as a sur- 
geon might be called severe when he removes 
a cancer. The cruelty is apparent; it is not 
real. But the love which pervades the universe 
is permanent, and ever coming to clearer ex- 
pression. The seaman who was saved from a 
wreck and who burst into tears when he re- 
membered his canary bird that was lost; the 
[147] 



Ci^e 3]ntoatD itgi^t 



father who, in the court, stood day by day 
at the side of his discredited and disgraced 
daughter ; the mother who folded in her arms 
and kissed her leper child; the nurses who, 
without pay, go among the outcast and the 
vile; the yellow sons of Nippon, who sink 
their individuality and lay down their lives 
that the honor of their Emperor may be main- 
tained ; the missionaries who, without hope of 
reward, leave home and friends and bury 
themselves in distant lands, that they may 
add to the hope and blessing of others who 
have no claim on them save the common claim 
of humanity: all these show in limited mani- 
festation the Divine attribute which comes into 
perfect manifestation on the Cross. " They 
are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O 
Lord, art more than they." They are faint 
hints of the nature of the force that impels 
the evolution of history and of the whole 
creation. The universe, in the final analysis, 
will be found to be sacrificial. Early in our 
thinking we are saddened by the prevalence 
of murder in nature. In deep melancholy we 
[148] 



repeat these terrible lines, which have a sem- 
blance of truth in them : 

'' Ldfe evermore is fed by death. 
In earth and sea and sky, 
And that a rose may breathe its breath. 
Something must die J' 

After experience has brought clearer vision, 
behind the apparently cruel facts we behold 
the movement of a higher and a beneficent 
law, which is slowly, but surely, regenerating 
all men and all things, whereof love and sacri- 
fice in man are the pledge and prophecy. 
What will this world of ours be when the 
reality appears, of which both the Inward 
and the Outward Calvary are prophecies? 
When the vestiges of the lion and the tiger, 
of the dog and the hog, have all been elimi- 
nated, and only that which is like the Deity, 
and therefore loving, remains — what then? 
The inquiry opens vistas of progress which 
our eyes are too weak to penetrate. We may 
not follow them, but we need not fear to trust 
ourselves to them. Those vestiges of animal- 
[149] 



Cl^e 31nia)atn UqJ^t 



ism are going. The brute is disappearing. 
The days of force and greed are numbered. 
Nations are building navies and driUing ar- 
mies, but they are also making treaties that 
will make those armaments useless. There is 
still strife in the social order ; but when million- 
naires are confessing that it is a shame to 
die rich, and when laboring men, in their 
spasmodic, blundering, and entirely mistaken 
ways, sacrifice themselves to prevent suf- 
fering among their fellows, as they do in 
every sympathetic strike, we may believe that, 
having learned wisdom by experience, they 
will yet be equally anxious to sacrifice com- 
fort, and even Kfe, that the welfare of the 
larger human brotherhood may be promoted. 
The Inward Calvary is the prophecy within 
ourselves of the time when men shall compete 
in service, and for opportunity to sacrifice, 
as now they compete for gold and power; of 
the time when the ambition of the whole race 
shall be not " to be ministered unto, but to 
minister." 

It is long since I have read Bushnell on " The 
1150] 



Vicarious Sacrifice,'' but I cannot close this 
study without a reference to the impression 
which was made upon my mind as in« that 
great work the author showed that all men 
and all angels are in vicarious sacrifice, and 
that even the Almighty Himself is not ex- 
empt from the sweep of this universal and 
self-imposed law. There is majesty and music 
in the very language in which the poet- 
preacher described the procession of history 
from the Lamb slain from the foundation of 
the world, to the Lamb, at the consummation 
of all things, in the midst of the throne. The 
glory of that conception is not diminished by 
the discovery that creation and progress have 
been by evolution, of which Bushnell knew 
little. That law does not suggest advance by 
unintelligent necessity, but growth according 
to an intelligent purpose and a beneficent 
plan, in which all the children of men may co- 
operate, and for whose perfection and blessing 
all things forever conspire. Evolution in the 
social order is the result of the cooperation of 
the human and the Divine. The Inward Cal- 
[151] 



Cl^e 3|ntioatD Jltgi^t 



vary is the prophecy of the Outward, and the 
Outward is the revelation of what the Inward 
will sometime become. Now the love which is 
in God shines from our poor lives as light 
from a lantern dim with smoke; but, some- 
time, it will shine from just such beings as we 
are with the splendor and saving power with 
which it has glorified the life and the death 
of Jesus of Nazareth. 



[152] 



Cl^e Ultimate autl^oriti? 



CHAPTER SEVENTH 




HE doctrine of the Inward 
Light, if properly under- 
stood and more carefully 
heeded, would solve many 
dark problems both of 
thought and of experience. 
The highest court of appeal is within every 
man. This is Paul's doctrine when he writes of 
the Spirit bearing witness with our spirits ; or 
of the indwelling God confirming the highest 
intellectual conclusions and the deepest moral 
convictions of intelligent and pure souls. 
When the Spirit of God and the spirit in man 
agree, a basis for authority has been reached. 
There is then harmony between the conscience 
and the reason, and the man is no longer dis- 
turbed by doubt. The Spirit of God has His 
dwelling in every human being. He utters no 
audible voice ; His decisions are not written in 
books; they are whispered in that stillness in 
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Ci^e antparn Itgi^t 



which spirit holds communion with spirit. 
The Spirit of the universe communicates His 
wisdom to mortal men. The belief in inspira- 
tion and revelation which has prevailed in all 
ages and among all peoples involves this con- 
ception. No friend can tell to us whether 
we are moving toward the spiritual heights. 
There are no writings to which one may refer 
for such assurance, but there is a still small 
voice which may be heard in the innermost 
silences, and its testimony may be trusted. 
A subject attracting much attention in our 
time is. The Ultimate Authority in Religion. 
Sabatier's remarkable book entitled " Relig- 
ions of Authority versus The Religion of 
the Spirit," did not appear until these 
essays were nearly written, but Martineau's 
" Authority in Religion " had made for it- 
self a distinct place in the modern world. 
Both deal with phases of this theme. Why 
should we believe in the fundamental concepts 
of religion.'^ This inquiry leads directly to 
our theory of knowledge, and to the ques- 
tion whether there be any ultimate spiritual 
[156] 



authority. Religion divides itself into two 
grand divisions : " Religions of Authority " 
and " the Religion of the Spirit," to use Saba- 
tier's phrase ; or into religions whose court of 
appeal is external, and those in which it is 
internal; or, again, into those which find the 
ultimate authority in man and those which 
find it in God. Three forms of religion are 
now appealing for recognition. The first lo- 
cates authority in the Church, or in the State 
as the political side of the Church ; the second 
finds it in some sacred writings, as in the 
Bible ; the third teaches that the Spirit of God 
actually communicates Divine wisdom to the 
spirit of man. 

If one inquires as to spiritual truth, he is 
sure to receive at least three widely different 
answers. 

One class of thinkers will tell him that he will 
find in the Church all the information that he 
needs, and that to the Church he should bow. 
What shall I beheve? Ask the Church. What 
ought I to do ? Ask the Church. But why trust 
the Church.^ Because it is the depository of 
[157] 



Cl^e fntoarti ligl^t 



truth; because when it speaks God speaks. 
That seems to open an easy way out of spirit- 
ual difficulties, but it raises more difficulties 
than it settles. Certain queries arise concern- 
ing this institution for which such claims are 
made. Is the Church infallible ? How may this 
infallibility be known ? To the outward eye the 
Church is a society of very fallible folk. It 
has not always sought the best things, and 
many of its methods have been such as to 
repel lofty and pure souls. Is not the Church 
composed of men? Are not men always lim- 
ited and fallible? By what process do fallible 
men, when brought together into a society, 
become infallible? Have not many of the 
councils of the Church manifested a spirit 
well-nigh diabolical? That of Nicaea defined 
and authorized the doctrine of the Trinity. 
Were the members of that council models of 
wisdom or virtue? Constantine was one of 
them, and Constantine was a murderer. The 
disorder in the meetings of that body was 
often so great that force had to be used to 
quell the disturbance. The attempt to show 
[158] 



Ci^e Ultimate autl^otitt 

that the Church is fit to exercise spiritual 
authority meets little encouragement. The 
Church is a society of men working together 
for the realization of Christian ideals. As such 
it is worthy of all praise ; but when it assumes 
to be an authority beyond appeal, and pre- 
sumes to dictate what must be believed, and 
what courses of conduct should be followed, 
it makes itself an object of derision. In the 
past, it has required noble and truly inspired 
men to submit their mental and spiritual proc- 
esses to rulers who sometimes have been fools, 
sometimes knaves, and at all times so full of 
problems of their own as to have little time 
for those of their fellow men. The claim that 
infallibility resides in the Church is too ridi- 
culous for attention even though it may have 
behind it ecclesiastics as saintly as Leo XIII. 
and the present Pope. To require allegiance 
to such an authority would be to ask that 
reason and common sense be ignored — which 
would be a sin against the Holy Ghost. 
Those who find the final authority for the 
spiritual life in the Bible, do not essentially 
[159] 



Ci^e 9!ntoarD JLtgi^t 



differ from those who find it in the Church. 
At first it appears to be an easy and sure 
solution of all problems of thinking and liv- 
ing to be able to go to an authoritative book, 
and have it remove all difficulties ; but troubles 
multiply the farther this road is followed. 
How do we know that the Bible may be 
trusted to such an extent? Is it replied that 
the Bible asserts its authority? If it does, I 
know neither the verse nor the chapter; but, 
granting that it does, what then? The same 
claim is made for the Koran, the Zend-Avesta, 
and the Upanishads. That assumption may 
be made for any writing. Assertion is not 
proof. If the Koran, the Zend-Avesta, and 
the Bible assert full spiritual authority, it is 
evident that all cannot be true, inasmuch as 
they often contradict one another. Either such 
assumptions are false, or the reason for be- 
lieving them true is something other than its 
own assertion. 

Moreover, perplexing inquiries arise as this 

subject is pursued. These Scriptures, which 

we call the Bible, were written by different 

[160] 



Ci^e aittmate Slutl^oriti? 

men, in widely separated periods of history. 
They represent various types of literature. 
Some of them are compilations from still 
older documents which have been, probably, 
forever lost. The Book of Jasher is known 
only by a single reference. There are at least 
three distinct narratives underneath the Pen- 
tateuch; those narratives are lost. The Gos- 
pels are supposed to have been compiled from 
now unknown records of the words and deeds 
of Jesus — none the less valuable for that — 
a fact which increases the difficulty of recog- 
nizing their authority as final. Many of these 
books were written in languages long since 
dead, and two of which languages have been 
greatly corrupted. In that fact there is both 
an advantage and a disadvantage. The lan- 
guage is no longer changing — that is an ad- 
vantage; but it is no longer living, and con- 
sequently is more uncertain and difficult of 
interpretation. When the Scriptures were 
written many words meant something quite 
different from what they mean now. If a 
truth has been translated from a language 
[161] 



Ci^e 3lntDarn U^^t 



which has been dead a thousand years into a 
language which is steadily changing, its pre- 
cise significance may easily have been sacri- 
ficed in the transition. Moreover, the question 
of temperament is an important one. Emphasis 
has much to do with the interpretation of any 
writing, and emphasis is a matter of tempera- 
ment. An impulsive man will put into words 
a meaning that calm and phlegmatic persons 
would never discern. 

Here is the problem : With sincerity and with 
deep anxiety we ask for the foundations of 
certainty in religion. We desire to know and 
to do right ; but we cannot stifle the voices 
that insist on asking, " What is truth .^^ What 
is right.? Who shall tell us.f^ " One reply Is, 
" Consult the Church. The Church is infal- 
lible, because God dwells in it." That leads 
us to ask for the criteria of infallibility. 
Has the Chuch never uttered dicta which have 
been found untrue? or pursued policies which 
have not been right ? One such example would 
destroy all its claims to infallibility. The 
pages of history are red with the records of 
[162] 



its mistakes. The Church, considered in the 
light of its entire history, is the noblest of 
human institutions, but it is not perfect. 
Those who have been trained in the princi- 
ples of the Puritans, or those who have the 
spirit of the Puritans, will never recognize 
the authority of any man, or of any body 
of men, because of their claims to infalli- 
bility. We would not buy an acre of ground 
without searching the title; much less would 
we trust our immortal destiny, or even our 
present moral decision and action, to those 
whose only right to be heard is in what they 
arrogate to themselves. 

But some one answers : " The Church, indeed, 
is composed of fallible men; its word ought 
not to be final; but there is a true Word of 
God, and that is the Bible." Turning to the 
Bible for an answer to the questions which 
confuse the mind and burden the heart, we 
find, as has already been observed, that in 
large part it was written thousands of years 
ago in languages now dead, by men of whom 
we know little if anything, who lived in an 
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Ci^e 9Intoarti JLtgi^t 



environment impossible of reproduction, or 
of thorough understanding by us. Their 
words have been translated, and the perils of 
translation are many. How may we be sure 
that those words meant the same to the men 
who wrote them as to those who read them 
now? But still our souls long for certainty. 
Where shall it be found? Is there no court 
of appeal? Yes, there is an authority; but it 
is not in any official, or in any body of men, 
or in any council, or in any church, in any 
creed or in any book, however true or ancient. 
There is but one court of final appeal, and 
that is God. That which is true and right in 
His sight must be discovered, or satisfaction 
will be forever impossible. The basis of 
authority is in God alone. 
The question then becomes this : Has God ever 
revealed Himself so that ethics and religion 
may be studied in the light of His revealed 
Will? The answer is, "Yes; the Spirit bears 
witness within our spirits." God speaks to man 
in an intimate, personal, and verifiable way. 
In His personal manifestation within the soul 
[ 164] 



€]^e Ultimate ^lutl^otttt 

are to be found the sacred symbols of author- 
ity. God is the final authority, and He is made 
known in all who are pure enough to discern 
His presence. When I hear the still voice 
speaking in my own soul, I hear God. When I 
bring my perplexities into the light which 
shines within, and am honest and sincere, then 
I am able to discover the truth and right as 
they are seen when looked at from above. 
How may the inner voice be known to be 
God's voice? May it not be merely the echo 
of our own desires? Who is gifted to recog- 
nize God when He speaks? And if He did re- 
veal His will, would we be able to appreciate 
His message? Possibly the voice is real; but 
may it not have come from some disem- 
bodied spirit who may be either good or 
bad? 

Of the teaching of the Bible concerning this 
point there is no need of uncertainty. Jesus 
regarded the inner voice and the inner light 
as both Divine. But how may we be made 
equally confident? John said: "Believe not 
every spirit, but prove the spirits whether 
[ 165 ] 



Cl^e gintoarD ilfgi^t 



they are of God.'' An important but not an 
easy task. 

Those who have accepted Jesus as Master of 
their spirits measure all claims to spiritual 
supremacy by His teaching as it is inter- 
preted in His life; but the inquiry goes back 
even of the person of Jesus; for before we 
can accept Him as Master we have to inquire, 
"Why?" and that "why" compels us to 
seek the reason for believing that the inner 
voice and light are Divine. Jesus declared that 
His ministry as a spiritual leader would be 
continued by the Spirit of Truth. Was He 
correct.'^ I approach this part of my subject 
knowing well the difficulty of making it clear 
and satisfying to others. 

Why should we believe that the voice speak- 
ing within is from God.? Because all men, 
when they listen to it, have revealed to them 
those truths which are needed for the purposes 
of life. The fact that those truths meet our 
deepest human needs is evidence of their divine 
origin. But do not different men receive dif- 
ferent messages.? Did not the Hindoo mother, 
[ 166 ] 



Wi^t Ultimate ^ut\^otitv 

when she threw her child into the Ganges, do 
what she believed to be right? Yet to us the 
act seems barbarism. I doubt if a Hindoo 
mother ever really believed that such a re- 
quirement was right. She yielded to custom 
and to tradition rather than to conscience. 
To them the sense of right had given place. 
No mother, however dense her ignorance, 
who was true to herself, ever sacrificed her 
child to any god. The motherly heart in- 
stinctively rebels against the tyranny of such 
horrible teaching. The Hindoo mother sacri- 
ficed her child because she listened to authori- 
ties outside herself, rather than to the voice 
that speaks within. Even in heathenism the 
light is clear enough to reveal what is true 
and right; and it would do so if men would 
break away from the tyranny of tradition and 
custom. 

What, then, are some of the subjects concern- 
ing which all men need knowledge? 
All men need to know what right and truth 
are, so far as they are related to the con- 
ditions in which all must live. Is there any 
[167] 



€l^e 31nt»atD JLigl^t 



escape for the penitent from the inevita- 
ble consequences of wrong-doing? Is there 
behind phenomena an inteUigent and lov- 
ing Being in whom all may trust? These 
questions are answered in the Inward Light, 
which some may call the light of nature, but 
which I prefer to call the light of God. The 
soul can be satisfied only with truth and right. 
The universal feeling of dependence is a 
prophecy that, when the light is bright 
enough, the One on whom all are dependent 
will be disclosed. Every one prays sometime and 
in some way ; this shows that we instinctively, 
although it may be dimly, feel the presence 
of a higher Power; every one believes in the 
possibility of spiritual deliverance — that uni- 
versal belief prophesies a deliverer. If one 
would live up to his highest ideals of right, 
he would find that he is living, or growing to 
live, in accordance with the universal ideals; 
if he would only do what he really and deeply 
thinks is right, and not what some outside 
authority tells him is right, he would seldom 
do wrong; if he would trust to the Being to 
[168] 



Cl^e Ultimate auti^orit^ 

whom he instinctively prays, he would find 
that he is trusting God ; if he would .commit 
himself to the God whom he trusts, he would 
never doubt the possibility of rising. In other 
words, the witness of the Spirit within exactly 
coincides with the teaching of Jesus without. 
Here observe that the way of Jesus was to 
offer His teaching not as authority prima- 
rily, but rather as testimony. The Spirit or 
the light which lighteth every man, puts into 
clear relief the truths which men need. Faith 
believes that they are from the Perfect One, 
because they never fail to inspire and ennoble 
when honestly studied and resolutely followed. 
The Inward Light reveals the truths which 
satisfy the profound, constant, and universal 
aspirations of humanity. The true, the beau- 
tiful, the good are essential to intellectual 
peace. Unless the spiritual nature has been 
degraded, when anything evil, untrue, unlov- 
ing is presented to it, it at once rebels. Men 
love darkness not because it is their nature 
to do so, but because their deeds are evil. 
Only truth, beauty, love are worthy of im- 
[169] 



m^t 91ntx)arD Itgi^t 



mortal beings. The spirit which is in man by 
nature bears witness to this fact. The whole 
race hates a lie; that is evident from the 
subterfuges which are used to justify lying. 
Every one loves beauty ; it is essentially good. 
The hues of the rainbow, the splendor of the 
sky, the figure and the color of a well propor- 
tioned man or woman everywhere attract ad- 
miration. Beauty pleases; ugliness repels. 
Spiritual beauty possesses a magic which 
sometimes glorifies even a homely face. Now 
and then physical beauty for a little time 
conceals spiritual vileness. When any teach- 
ing, or any person, is brought into the In- 
ward Light, he is seen to be either beautiful 
or ugly. There is seldom any disagreement 
on this point. That which the Spirit of Christ 
calls vile the natural man knows to be ugly. 
Sane souls admire harmony ; and the supreme 
harmony is the blending of the human will 
with the Divine. 

Goodness alone satisfies; this also is self-evi- 
dent. Evil causes division; goodness unites. 
There are no deep discords between good men 
[170] 



Ci^e Ultimate autl^orttt 

who keep to their goodness, and there is very 
little difference of opinion between the bar- 
barian and the Christian as to the nature of 
goodness. Savages can be fascinated by a 
loving soul. Love conquers hate. When the 
Jesuit missionaries in Canada were massacred 
by savages, the murderers, when they saw how 
bravely the Christians died, sought to drink 
their blood, that they might be like them. 
Purity and heroism always attract and trans- 
form. When the teachings of any Master are 
brought into the Inward Light their essential 
nature is always disclosed. Nothing can escape 
" that deep revealing.'' In its radiance the 
true, the beautiful, and the good are made 
manifest. That which endures this testing, 
faith declares must be divine. It is a matter of 
faith at last; but here, surely, faith is belief 
on credible evidence. 

The best in humanity is the fullest possible 
disclosure of God. It is the perfect man who 
is C6.11ed " the brightness of the Father's 
glory, and the express image of His person." 
We most firmly trust that man whom we re- 
[171] 



Cl^e 9|ntoarD Ligi^t 



gard as nearest perfect. Those who beheve in 
the perfect humanity of Jesus are confident 
of His divinity. This is highly significant ; He 
who limits the divinity of Christ also questions 
His perfection as a man. It would be impos- 
sible to distinguish the absolutely perfect man 
from very God. The teaching of Jesus and 
the experiences of the human race meet at 
this point. The Spirit of God interprets the 
teaching of Jesus, adapting it to each new 
time ; and that teaching agrees with what our 
own spirits assure us is best, when they have 
a fair chance to be heard. They tell us that 
we should worship the best of which we can 
conceive, and the race always has done so; 
p.nd the Spirit from without gives a name to 
that best, and declares that it is God. That 
which is most human is also most divine. 
Thus we come to the ultimate authority. Each 
man has to decide every question for himself. 
He longs to know about truth and right, 
about the beautiful and the loving, about 
duty and destiny. Whither shall he turn? 
There are churches many and creeds number- 
[172] 



Cl^e Ultimate ^utl^ontt 

less. He asks them, but quickly discovers that 
the creeds condense the conclusions of fallible 
men, and that churches may make mistakes. 
There are Bibles many, and some are better 
than others; but even the one which seems to 
be the best of all is written in dead languages. 
And how is one to know whether the men who 
wrote these books were infallible.'^ At last, 
weary and worn by the confusion of his quest, 
he asks, " Is there no certainty ? Must I re- 
main forever unsettled in mind and heart.? 
Is there no authority .? " Then he meditates 
thus with himself: The final authority must 
be the Perfect One — ^that is God; but how 
am I to find God? And how may I be sure 
of His truth and His will.? There are many 
professed revelations; how shall I decide 
which to trust.? To this eager and pathetic 
inquiry I know but one answer. Each in- 
quirer must dare to trust the revelation which 
has come to him. Each individual inquirer is 
a person who stands in vital relation with 
the Infinite Person. Each one is as near to 
God as to any other man or any body of men 
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Ci^e 3Intpat^ti iLigi^t 



can be. If God speaks to anyone, He will 
speak to me. I listen eagerly, honestly, deter- 
mined at last that I will not ask what I wish 
to have true and right, but I will ask only 
what truth and right actually are. The longer 
I listen the more the wonder grows, for the 
response commends itself both to reason and to 
conscience ; it satisfies. Then I exclaim, " If I 
could only be sure that this inner voice is 
trustworthy ! " At this point faith takes us in 
hand. That which satisfies both the reason 
and the moral sense ought to be believed and 
acted on until it is proved to be false. But 
may it not be that what commends itself to 
me as true and good is mere delusion — some- 
thing that my own faculties have projected? 
The only way to answer that is to learn 
whether the experience is individual or univer- 
sal. Thus we are led to study history, and the 
experiences of other men, as they are pre- 
served in the literature of the world. Doing 
that, we find in all ages and in all lands? 
in proportion as men have distrusted mere out- 
ward authority, and have been loyal to the 
[174] 



Ci^e autmate ^ut^ovitv 

Inward Light, that they have approximated 
the perfect humanity. They have not been 
deceived. At last we come to the Person of 
Christ, and inquire. What of Him.? He only 
asked to be believed because He incarnated 
the truth ; when He died. He left no writings 
and gave no code of laws; He simply com- 
mitted His disciples to the leadership of the 
Spirit of Truth, saying, " He will lead you 
into all the truth." Who is more worthy of 
confidence than He who requires of His dis- 
ciples only that they follow the Spirit of 
Truth? Ah! but how may I get full knowl- 
edge of the truth.? Growth into that knowl- 
edge is a continuous process. Jesus Himself 
said that there were many mysteries which 
He could not reveal because His disciples were 
not then able to bear them. They were to be 
made known later. The revelations will go on 
while the mind of man shall grow, and while 
any secret place in the being of the Deity re- 
mains to be explored ; and that will be forever. 
What in the future may come into the field of 
vision out of the starry heavens or out of the 
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Ci^e 31nt»at:li JLigl^t 



depths of the human soul ? No one needs to try 
even to imagine. Enough for us that nothing 
will be revealed which will violate reason or 
the moral nature. The teaching which reveals 
the Eternal God, and the whole created 
universe, in service and sacrifice for the per- 
fecting of the children of men, is one that 
never can be transcended. Let every man be 
fully persuaded in his own mind, and then, 
when the inevitable question rises as to whether 
he may not have made a mistake, let him give 
ear to these words, " The Spirit itself beareth 
witness with our spirit, that we are the children 
of God." Into that one utterance is condensed 
all that we need to know in this world, and 

*' It doth not yet appear what we shall be.'* 



[1761 



Cl^e Ultimate ^tanDatD 



CHAPTER EIGHTH 

Cl^e Ultimate ^tanDatd 




HE ultimate authority in 
religion is God, as He is 
revealed in the soul of man ; 
the ultimate standard in re- 
ligion is Jesus Christ. The 
authority is internal, and 
the standard may be internal, but it is also 
and more evidently external. Auguste Saba- 
tier has wisely said : " Christ is far more than 
the highest authority in Christianity. He is 
Christianity itself." And again : " The true 
and ultimate object of faith in Jesus Christ 
is therefore not the man Jesus, but the reve- 
lation of the Father which is in Him." (" Re- 
ligions of Authority," p. 294.) 
The Inward Light, and that which it reveals, 
are not identical. The Light shining in the 
soul is the indwelling Gk)d, who of neces- 
sity passes judgment on the ethical quality 
and spiritual value of the various impressions 
[179] 



Ci^e 3IntDatD ligl^t 



and precepts which make their appeal to the 
human will. He is the final authority in all 
matters of belief and conduct so far as they 
have a moral quality. But authority and 
standard are by no means the same, and the 
former without the latter would be like a 
court without any law. Is there a perfect 
ethical standard as well as an infallible court 
of appeal? It is one thing to know whether 
the right is being done ; it is a very different 
thing to know what the right is. The author- 
ity decides as to the worth of the standard, 
and also as to whether its requirements are 
being realized. No standard has obligation 
in itself until it has been approved by the 
authority within ; afterward it becomes oblig- 
atory, because it has upon it the stamp of 
truth, having stood the test of the Inward 
Light. A spiritual standard is a statement in 
words, or an expression in life, of that which 
it is the best to think and to do ; of the truths 
and duties which ought to be recognized as 
beyond question and as imperative. It is the 
moral ideal so expressed as to be intelligible 
[180] 



ci^e aittmate ^tannat;t> 

and realizable. The standard is the embodied 
ideal. 

Authority, on the other haiid, implies two 
things, viz., the right to rule, and the right 
to discriminate and to decide. The final au- 
thority in an absolute monarchy is the em- 
peror; in a democracy it is the people; with 
the individual soul it is God; in the civil 
State it is he who, because of the force which 
he possesses, can compel obedience. In the re- 
public of souls the authority is He who by 
the perfection of His Being is infallible, and, 
therefore. He who by right passes judgment 
on conflicting standards. Because there is 
within all men a knowledge of what is right 
and what is wrong, and a consciousness of 
obKgation to choose the right and eschew the 
wrong, there is an internal standard as well 
as an internal authority. But that internal 
standard, like Leonardo's " Last Supper," 
with the lapse of years and continued neglect 
becomes indistinct, and requires reenforce- 
ment from without. When men no longer 
respond to impulses from within, they need 
[181] 



Ci^e SntDatn itgi^t 



to have set before them attractions which will 
waken them to clearer vision and intenser ac- 
tion. Every ideal has embodiment somewhere. 
Chivalry has had its Henry of Navarre and 
its Richard of the Lion Heart; heroism its 
Charles George Gordon and its Sir John 
Franklin; patriotism its Washington and 
Lincoln; reform its Cromwell and Mazzini; 
prophecy its Hosea and Isaiah; holiness its 
Jesus. The perfect ideal has the authority 
which belongs to truth and holiness. Every 
ideal sometime has an incarnation, and its 
power is due chiefly to the fact of incarna- 
tion. The ideal will hardly continue to exist 
apart from its embodiment. Abstractions con- 
vey no definite impressions. Love is always a 
man loving ; and holiness is the sum of a man's 
faculties raised to their perfect state. Incar- 
nation is the common factor in all religions. 
It is essential to the cognizability of an ideal. 
The incarnation of an ethical and spiritual 
standard is necessary to its clear appreciation 
and full realization. An external standard is 
a condition of growth in the ethical and 
[ 182] 



Ci^e Ultimate ^tanDatD 

spiritual life. It is the expression of an ob- 
ject of effort, of the end of endeavor. It is 
the goal toward which the moral man is press- 
ing. He who runs without knowing whither, 
will be sure to go astray; and he who tries 
to be good without any clear idea of what 
goodness is, will sadly blunder. 
Growth in knowledge of what is right, and in 
saintly character, is not a simple process, nor 
is it always easy to follow. It may be called 
evolution, but evolution is always by means. 
It is a resident force working toward a well- 
defined end, but the attraction from without 
may be quite as efficient as the force within. 
An apple is a product of evolution, but there 
is more in that apple than the outworking of 
energy. The light of the sun, the moisture 
of the rain, and the chemistries of the earth, 
are in every apple. In the same way the evo- 
lution of man has been modified by his en- 
vironment, a large part of which is always 
the expression of his ideals. The apple re- 
quired influence from without to stimulate 
growth from within; so also does the evolu- 
[183] 



mt intoarD Jligi^t 



tion of the human spirit. In the best of our 
race there is a tendency to revert to the state 
from which they have risen. Something of the 
lion and the tiger, as well as of the monkey and 
the ape, are found in those who have moved 
farthest toward the spiritual heights. Animal 
remnants cling to the skirts of emerging 
spirits. The saintliest souls have been most 
keenly alive to their peril from the lower 
nature. PauPs experience with the law in his 
members warring against the law in his mind 
is typical. Who shall deliver from the body 
of death.? — which means, how may we escape 
from the hands which are holding us in ani- 
malism.'^ Sweeter voices are calling to higher 
realms, but the power to respond often seems 
wanting. In the process, or in the struggle, 
by which men are lifted above the earthly 
and the sensual to the spiritual state, all pos- 
sible attractions are needed to counteract the 
grip of the lusts, which never willingly relin- 
quish their hold. 

The strongest attraction for an intelligent 

being is a life which embodies all its ideals 

[184 J 



Cl^e Ultimate ^tanDarD 

of perfection; a life which has form, and 
whose very existence proves that the heights 
which attract are not inaccessible. 
An abstract statement may be misunderstood. 
For that reason moral maxims have seldom 
largely influenced the development of history. 
Even the Ten Commandments made far less 
impression on the Jewish people than did the 
examples of Moses, Joshua, Samuel, and the 
prophets. If a man be commanded to love his 
enemy, he will at once begin to ask, With what 
kind of love? Am I to feel toward him as I 
feel toward the members of my family and 
toward my friends? That is impossible. Then 
what do you mean? And how can there be 
two or more varieties of love? And since I am 
perplexed as to the meaning of the command, 
why should I be blamed if I do not do what is 
expected of me? The exhortation of Jesus, 
" Ye therefore shall be perfect, as your 
Heavenly Father is perfect " is an ideal eth- 
ical precept. But who shall tell what perfec- 
tion is, and what God is? And how may a 
limited and imperfect creature attain to the 
[185] 



m^t fntDarD JLtglftt 



perfection of the unlimited Creator? Difficul- 
ties such as these beset the thinking man, and 
sometimes they seem to multiply with the use 
of the reasoning faculties. There was at least 
the appearance of justification for the remark 
of that Oxford professor who said : " Young 
gentlemen, if you ever expect to be happy 
you must cease to think." (Prof. William 
Wallace, in a class-room lecture. ) 
Even the command, " Thou shalt not commit 
adultery," whose meaning seems to be as evi- 
dent as words can make anything, is inter- 
preted in various ways. A writer in the Hib- 
bert Journal for October, 1904, says that, 
according to prevalent impressions in the time 
of this utterance, a man was guilty of adul- 
tery when he had robbed another man of his 
wife; but Jesus taught that even the impure 
look was adultery. Never has there been any 
agreement as to the meaning of ethical or 
spiritual doctrines when the question has been 
one of interpretation alone. This divergence of 
interpretation is evidence enough that words 
are almost inevitably misunderstood. If fig- 
[186] 



Ci^e Ultimate ^tannatD 

ures are the worst of liars, words may well be 
called next to the worst. " But here is an ex- 
ception — ' Thou shalt not kill.' That surely is 
explicit." Is it.? Then is war always wrong.'* 
Then, were Washington and Lincoln, Crom- 
well and Wellington, enemies of their race.'* 
Then, if a madman, fully armed, rushes into 
a crowd, shall he be allowed to shoot, while no 
one brings him down.'* Ethical precepts, even 
the simplest, before they have been followed 
far, lead into labyrinths of casuistry. If we 
were dependent on codes of laws either for in- 
struction or inspiration, the moral progress 
of the world would have been very slight. They 
always require elucidation, and their interpre- 
tation has become a fine art. 
An ideal, stated in words alone, may easily, 
in proportion to its nobility, come to be re- 
garded as an impossibility. That exhortation 
of Jesus, already quoted, about being perfect, 
as our heavenly Father is perfect, rises before 
us like a splendid mountain, but too lofty for 
mortal men to scale. The Master might as well 
have commanded us to walk to the sun through 
[187] 



m^t antiuatD ygl^t 



the trackless air. If all anyone has for us in 
the way of teaching is the impossible, then 
life would be both easier and happier if such 
idle talk were suppressed. 
Jesus said : " Blessed are the pure in heart, for 
they shall see God." But how is a man with 
vestiges of an evil heredity clinging to him to 
be pure in heart? It is a simple task for one 
to tell another that he should be pure, but what 
he needs to know is by what chemistry his 
memory may be made " like the cloudless air, 
and his conscience like a sea at rest." 
Human ideals in themselves are tantalizing. 
Few men need more knowledge ; but many need 
the transformation of their desires, the stimu- 
lation of their wills, and the inspiration of 
their hopes, so that they may have heart to 
press toward the goal whose attractions they 
recognize, but whose quest seems not for them. 
Much of the teaching concerning duty dis- 
courages, because it asks what is evidently im- 
possible. 

An abstraction, moreover, has no attractive 

power. The very words which, when simply 

[188] 



Ci^e Ultimate ^tattDarti 

read, seem meaningless, when delivered with 
the melody of a voice and the fire of a noble 
personality behind them thrill like martial 
music. There is a suggestion of power in the 
" Marseillaise," or " The Watch on the 
Rhine " even when they are recited, but that 
is due to the poetical expression. Translated 
into prose, and read in silence, they would act 
like an anaesthetic ; but when they are taken up 
and sung by a thousand soldiers, every drop of 
blood in our veins runs more swiftly. 
An essay on courage never made anyone 
brave; but the story of Livingstone, without 
white companion, traversing Africa in order 
that he might help to heal " the open sore of 
the world," has thrilled millions of hearts, and 
started scores of other heroes along some like 
thorny path. 

A treatise on ethics never transformed char- 
acter; but the example of a righteous man, 
or of a saintly woman, has helped many an- 
other to reach an altitude where he would be 
ashamed to do wrong. 

A sermon on philanthropy might chill the 
[189] 



m^t gintoatd U^^t 



most sympathetic of audiences ; but the stories 
of Ehzabeth Fry and John Howard, of Sister 
Dora and of Arnold Toynbee, have inspired 
thousands to carry sympathy to the prisons 
and loving ministries to the slums. Theologies 
may be written in terms of logic, and be as 
unattractive as blocks of ice in midwinter ; but 
more than one older person has felt like ex- 
pressing the child's wonder at the sight of 
some unselfish soul doing good simply from 
love of it, and asking in the child's words, " Is 
that God? " 

Inspiration requires life for its vehicle. An 
abstraction never made a convert or won a 
disciple. Truth has to be embodied to get 
power. " The Word was made flesh and dwelt 
among us." Words, by themselves, are mere 
wind. Life, example, ideals realized in flesh 
and blood, convince, attract, inspire, impel, 
and when they are lifted up, sooner or later, 
according to their nobility, draw men unto 
them. 

An external standard of truth and right is a 

necessity, if the progress of the race along 

[190] 



Ci^e Ultimate ^tanDarD 

ethical lines is to be either swift or sure. Each 
standard is the embodiment of noble ideals. It 
has such authority as inheres in the measure 
of truth and right which it contains. It dis- 
criminates between no conflicting claims; it 
utters no voice ; but it offers truth in concrete 
forms, easy of interpretation. With that 
standard, conduct and character may be com- 
pared, and from it the actual moral condition 
may be learned. The ultimate standard of 
character for our race is the revelation of 
human possibilities in a person, and it ought 
to register the common achievement. 
He who has neither external standard nor 
spiritual example may have noble motives and 
possess saintly character, but he will be as 
one who climbs, yet knows not that he is rising ; 
or as one who beholds afar off a prize which, 
though intended for him, is forever beyond 
his reach. 

The ultimate standard for Christians is Jesus 
Christ. He embodies all that they should be- 
lieve of truth concerning God and man, and 
all th^^t they should seek to realize in moral 
[191] 



Ci^e fntoatu Itgi^t 



character. He Is the standard, because in the 
Inward Light He is recognized as worthy 
of that august supremacy. In that light, in 
which nothing can be hidden, He meets all the 
requirements essential to a Master of spirits. 
He is not accepted as standard because of any 
claim which He makes for Himself. He is not 
imposed by any external and arbitrary power. 
He consents to stand in the light which shines 
in the human soul, and to allow His holiness 
to be tested in that radiance in which no taint 
can be concealed and no weakness hidden. He 
is recognized as the embodiment of the high- 
est spiritual and ethical ideals; and thus He 
satisfies the prof oundest longings and the most 
constant aspirations of the spiritual nature. 
The authority within afSrms the authority 
without. Jesus is thus accepted not because 
of what is written in the Bible concerning 
Him; on the other hand, the Bible is widely 
accepted as Divine because His life and teach- 
ings are contained within its pages. He enters 
that supreme court of the soul, before which 
all who claim human allegiance must come, 
[ 192] 



Cl^e Ultimate ^tanDarD 

and in that light of God is revealed as the 
Perfect One. Thus " the Life " becomes the 
" Light of Men." It would be easy to re- 
fuse to listen to a voice or to bow to an 
external authority; but no one can easily 
turn from Him whose credentials are cer- 
tified by man's own spiritual and moral 
faculties. 

The ultimate standard is not the Book, or the 
creeds, but the Man — ^the human life of Jesus 
of Nazareth. 

Jesus Christ is the ultimate standard of con- 
duct and character. What He was, all other 
men were intended sometime to be. The stand- 
ard is the outshining of the consciousness of 
Jesus, a radiation of holiness, of love, of the 
presence of God within. He is also the ulti- 
mate standard of thought and life, or at 
least of all that any need to know con- 
cerning the " unseen powers." This state- 
ment does not touch the metaphysics of the 
person of Christ. It is unfortunate that, in the 
history of religions, attention has so often 
been diverted from questions of primary to 
[193] 



those of secondary importance. Whatever opin- 
ions concerning the divinity of Christ may pre- 
vail, the significance of His ministry continues 
unchanged. By the common consent of all who 
know His story and His teaching. He has been 
awarded primacy among men because of what 
He was, and because of His teachings as they 
stood forth embodied in His life. He is the 
standard, because He satisfies the deepest 
needs of humanity ; and He is trusted, because 
the message that He brings is certified to be 
true in the court of highest appeal within 
the human personality. As bread satisfies the 
hunger of the body, so He satisfies the hunger 
of the soul. He convinces both the reason and 
the heart. Except in mere magnitude would 
any wish to have the Deity diiFer from Jesus 
Christ.? If God be like Him, the destiny of man 
is secure. Nothing that is at enmity with love 
can overcome any human soul, if all souls are 
in the hands of a being who is revealed in the 
Man of Galilee and Calvary. Whether Jesus be 
Deity or not, He has the value of the Deity for 
us. God as the Almighty needs no other reve- 
[194] 



C]^e Ultimate ^tandatD 

lation if the universe is the expression of His 
infinity. But is the Unseen One just and lov- 
ing? Mere force may be cruel; vastness may 
be harsh. Is the universe in the hands of intel- 
ligence.'* And do nature's laws have behind 
them, or within them, a sympathetic person- 
ality.? This is the question of questions. In 
Jesus, justice and love are as near perfection 
as human faculties can discern. " All men de- 
sire a human God." (Knapp, ^' Christian The- 
ology," p. 1.) In other words, there is a wide- 
spread desire to know God, as well as to hear 
about Him. Those who see Jesus see the Father 
— not His omnipotence, not the metaphysical 
blending of a dual personality, but the Divine 
wisdom, justice, and love. He is the manifes- 
tation of the character of the Deity. If the 
history of Jesus is studied as a human mani- 
festation of Divine character, it will be found 
to contain all that the purest and sanest souls 
have desired in the Deity. In Him their deep- 
est needs and most rational longings are satis- 
fied. He is the ultimate standard of what men 
need to know concerning God, because He is 
[195] 



Ci^e gintcaicD JLigl^t 



the expression of the fulness of God's moral 
attributes. 

The character of Jesus is also a manifesta- 
tion in condensed form of the perfect human 
character. " In the last analysis, and to go 
down to the very root of the Christian relig- 
ion, to be a Christian is not to acquire a no- 
tion of God, or even an abstract doctrine of 
His paternal love; it is to live over, within 
ourselves, the inner spiritual life of Christ, 
and by the union of our hearts with his to feel 
in ourselves the presence of a Father, and the 
reality of our filial relation to Him just as 
Christ felt in Himself the Father's presence 
and His filial relation to Him." (Sabatier, 
"Rehgions of Authority," p. 293.) 
Jesus realized in Himself the aspirations, the 
ideals, and the holiness of God, and in that 
realization exhibits the ultimate standard of 
human character. In Him is seen the per- 
fection of the filial relation. Those who have 
that realization will manifest it in character 
like His. "What ought I to do.?" That is 
one of the three questions which Kant said it 
[ 196 ] 



Cl^e Olttmate ^tanDarD 

was the business of philosophy to answer. The 
Christian reply is simple and direct: seek to 
realize, as Jesus realized, a filial relation to the 
Deity, and your thoughts will be pure and 
your conduct righteous, because the Deity 
can be satisfied with nothing less than 
purity and righteousness. As all desire " a 
human God," or to be able to interpret the 
Deity in terms of humanity, so all desire to see 
the Perfect Man. If He may be seen He will 
be believed to be no myth. " We would see 
Jesus." The ideals of humanity have taken 
shape in one man at least ; therefore they are 
known to be within the realm of possibility. 
The perfect human life is that of Jesus. It 
may be regarded as impracticable in society 
as now constituted, but few have ever ques- 
tioned its perfection. What ought I to do? To 
be pure, as Jesus was pure; sympathetic, as 
He was when He sat by the woman of Sa- 
maria; trustful and submissive, as He was 
when He prayed, " Not as I will, but as Thou 
wilt " ; forgiving, as He was when He prayed, 
" Father, forgive them " ; loving, as He was 
[197] 



Ci^e antoarti itgi^t 



when He rejoiced in death because It enabled 
Him the better to serve his fellow men. 
When we say that Jesus is the ultimate stand- 
ard of truth concerning God, man, duty, 
and destiny, we mean that He teaches men all 
that they need to know about these subjects; 
that His revelations are not abstract, but con- 
crete ; not in the language of philosophy, but 
in terms of life. He may have been only a 
man — so some believe; but even then, if He 
was only like other men, one man has shown 
in Himself all that most men care to know or 
can know about Grod — yes, more than all other 
men combined have ever known about God. 
If sometime I shall look upon the Deity and 
find that He is like Jesus Christ, I shall be 
satisfied. Moreover, He realized in His daily 
life, and amid common duties, that He was 
a child of the Spirit who pervades the uni- 
verse, and that He should strive to be worthy 
of such an ancestry. And, once more, in the 
midst of trials and griefs, while bearing His 
own heavy burdens. He has shown that one 
who knows himself a child of God will always 
[198] 



Ci^e Ultimate ^tatiDatH 

be pure as the light, patient, sympathetic, 
tolerant of men, intolerant only of sin, loving 
to the extreme of daily service, sacrificial to 
the limit of the Cross. When at last death 
claimed Him, it was not able to hold Him ; He 
rose in His spiritual personality, more majestic 
and potent than ever before; and instead of 
being shut forever in a grave, has from that 
time to the present been the inspiration of 
most that has been true, beautiful, and good 
in the life of the world. 

I cannot explain the mystery of His unique 
personality, if, indeed, there is any more mys- 
tery about it than in all personality. I cannot 
find the secret of His wondrous power, but one 
thing I can say with all my heart : When any 
other teacher comes into the Inward Light, I 
think about the man ; I reject part and accept 
part of what he says; I am impressed quite 
as much by His limitations as by what He 
teaches ; but when Jesus comes into the Inward 
Light, He makes me see what I believe to be 
God ; He shows me my own heart in contrast 
with what a child of God ought to be; He 
[199] 



m^t 91nt»at:D itgi^t 



makes me understand that a man may be 
tempted even as I am, and yet not sin; He 
makes me feel that all men are members of the 
same family ; He shows meihow white a human 
soul will become, and how loving even a man 
like myself will surely be, when he is one with 
God. Thus Jesus becomes my ultimate stand- 
ard, and, from longing most to realize what 
have been my ambitions and my desires, I now 
long to be given grace to be like Him. 
What does this perfect standard require of 
those for whom it has authority — such author- 
ity as inheres in truth and holiness ? It requires 
that they should conform themselves to it; 
but here is the difficulty. " It has one meaning 
for one, and another meaning for another." 
Yes, and no. In details it is different for differ- 
ent persons, while in essence it is the same for 
all. But let the inquiry frankly be met. Each 
man must be true to that standard as it is 
interpreted to him. That we agree with one 
another is not important, but that we be true 
to our own honest convictions is imperative. 
And since humanity is one even in its multitu^ 
[200] 



Ci^e Ultimate ^tattDarD 

dinous individuality, it follows that those who 
are true to themselves will never be very widely 
separated from each other either in thought 
or in character. The ultimate standard is 
Jesus Christ as each man knows Him. No one 
may impose his interpretation of the stand- 
ard upon another. But suppose Jesus Christ 
does not commend Himself as worthy to be 
trusted — as He does not to many Hebrews; 
or, suppose one has lived in ignorance of Him, 
what then? There is but one answer: Each 
man must be obedient to the measure of truth 
that in the Inward Light is disclosed to him, 
and must trust that he who seeks truth and 
does right will not be harshly judged at the 
last. We may pity those from whom we differ, 
but it is never ours to condemn. 
Will Jesus ever be surpassed? We need not 
inquire. Surely not in our time. The only way 
in which we can imagine that one could be 
greater than Jesus is in being a fuller revela- 
tion of the same holiness which seems in Him 
to have reached its utmost limit. Enough for 
us that he shows to humanity all that it needs 
[201 ] 



Cl^e antxjatD ligl^t 



to know about God, about destiny, concerning 
righteous conduct and the holy character. If 
some time in far-off ages, one should appear 
who should more fully disclose the glory of the 
Deity and the possibilities of man, it will be 
in the process of fulfilling the evident pur- 
pose of God as revealed in evolution, in his- 
tory, and in the Christ, by which sometime 
the whole round world and the whole created 
universe shall be bound with gold chains to 
the throne of God. This is all that we know, 
and all that we need to know. 



[202] 



Cl^e T5mt^ of ti^e Worn 



CHAPTER NINTH 

m^t TSihm of tl^e ^otlD 




AUL, In writing to Timothy, 
said that every Scripture 
which is inspired of God 
is profitable for the de- 
velopment of the spiritual 
and ethical life. Then all 
writings claiming peculiar sanctity may be 
tested, and those which conform to this stand- 
ard may be trusted, and those which do not 
conform to it have no claim to Divine inspira- 
tion. 

The student of religion, as he pursues his 
investigations, finds certain grand divisions 
among the religions of the world, as there are 
grand divisions of the earth's surface; and 
those continental faiths contain not only 
records of teachers and leaders, but also holy 
books in which are enshrined the precepts and 
hymns of sages and seers. In certain respects 
these sacred books strangely resemble one an- 
[205] 



m^t 3!ntDatD tiQ^t 



other. They embody the ethical and spiritual 
teaching of the masters of the different re- 
ligions. None of them possess logical unity, 
or were written with apparent attempt at lit- 
erary consistency. All of them are collections 
of writings of various kinds — ^poetry, proph- 
ecy, history, and moral maxims. Each one 
contains the choicest literature of a nation or 
a religion, rather than the work of a single 
author; and each either claims for itself, or 
has had claimed for it, divine origin and divine 
authority. These sacred books are named the 
Zend-Avesta, the Koran, the Upanishads, and 
so on through a long list. Modem scholarship 
has put these writings within the reach of all 
who have the patience and desire to read them. 
Under the editorship of the late Prof. Max 
Miiller, of Oxford University, they have been 
published in English in thirty large volumes. 
The ethnic religions were formerly little more 
than names to those foreign to them. Now, 
their missionaries are in Christian lands, as 
Christian missionaries are to be found among 
the people who adhere to the teachings of Ma- 
[206] 



Ci^e TSihm of ti^e ^otlD 

hornet, Buddha, Confucius, or Keshub Chun- 
der Sen. Thoughtful and inquiring persons 
among us find need to ask questions concern- 
ing the relative value of religions which a 
half century ago seldom arose. 
What should be our attitude toward the world's 
bibles ? They are as sacred in the eyes of those 
who were bom where they hold sway as the 
Hebrew and Christian Scriptures are to us. 
Do we possess any essential truth not found 
in them? These questions are more theoretical 
than practical; for, while many may press 
the inquiries, few will make the effort neces- 
sary to read those abstruse and difficult works, 
much less to study deeply enough to under- 
stand them. But a theoretical difficulty may 
be quite as dangerous as a practical one, and 
ought never to be unadvisedly or lightly 
turned aside. The question, therefore, as to 
what should be our attitude toward the world's 
bibles, should receive fair consideration. 
Paul met the problem in his characteristically 
frank and lucid fashion. Any writing claiming 
recognition as sacred Scripture, before it 
[207] 



Ci^e antoaro ligi^t 



should be accepted as such, must commend 
itself to the one studying it as calculated to 
inculcate truth and to promote righteousness. 
Whatever, when brought into the Inward 
Light and thoroughly and honestly examined, 
is found to promote goodness and loyalty to 
truth, may be trusted ; and whatever does not 
is unworthy of credence. There is no authority 
and no sanctity in locality. What are its fruits 
in character.? This is the test to which 
every claim to spiritual inspiration should be 
brought. The value of any religious truth 
may always be determined by the inevitability 
with which it tends to produce right conduct, 
and in time virtuous character. Truth and 
right are joined together throughout the uni- 
verse, and no man can put them asunder. 
So far as opportunity offers, all men should 
be hospitable to the various bibles, for no one 
of them is without some fair claim to recog- 
nition. But what men need is truth enough to 
live by ; not enough to solve their hypothetical 
problems. After they have that, all other in- 
quiries are merely speculative; and the study 
[208] 



m^t QBtblejs of ti^e ^otlD 

of comparative religions belongs in the same 
category as comparative chemistry, or com- 
parative biology — it is interesting, but not 
essential. No man can studiously read the 
bibles and do anything else. Every man should 
be open-minded and willing to learn, anxious 
to put into life all the truth that he may dis- 
cover; but as a matter of fact, most men, 
because of the struggle for existence, have 
little time to do more than read the sacred 
book nearest to them. If they find in that the 
truth which satisfies their deepest needs, they 
must be trusted to apply it until a clearer 
revelation be presented. 

In these days few are blind enough to suppose 
that the sacred books of the non-Christian re- 
ligions are altogether pernicious. The Koran 
teaches the unity and spirituality of God; 
the Buddhistic writings inculcate the service 
of humanity ; the Zend-Avesta recognizes the 
struggle between good and evil, and hints at 
the ultimate victory of the good. Confucius 
taught reverence for father and mother quite 
as distinctly as did Moses. God has not left 
[209] 



Ci^e 3!nt»atD Itgi^t 



Himself without a witness among any people. 
But it is one thing to recognize that gleams 
of truth are found in these books, and a very 
different thing to admit that those by whom 
they are accepted have all the ethical and 
spiritual truth which they need. Do they send 
missionaries to Christian lands .'^ If the mes- 
sage of those missionaries seems to have value, 
it ought fearlessly and gladly to be brought 
into the light which shines in every man's soul, 
and allowed to wait there until determination 
be made whether it actually is the truth re- 
quired for hours of intellectual struggle and 
spiritual confusion ; whether it will make duty 
clearer and the ethical resolution stronger. 
If it will help any to conform their conduct 
to what they know to be the everlasting prin- 
ciples of morality ; if it will make it easier for 
any to live more consistently, and to die with- 
out dread, it should be received, whatever the 
land from which it comes or the name of the 
author who gave it utterance. Do we send 
missionaries to other lands ? They should be 
received in the same spirit. To a Buddhist, 
[210] 



m)t I3iblejs of ti^e ^orlD 

the distinctive Christian teaching ought not 
to be expected instantly to present itself as 
presumptively true; and any distinguishing 
doctrine of the Buddhists should be thorough- 
ly tested before its acceptance by a Christian. 
It would be a valuable exercise for anyone to 
take the salient teachings of the world's Bibles, 
and, bringing them into the light that light- 
eth every man, to inquire which are true and 
which are false; but no one man can do that 
for another. As I thus, for myself, treat some 
of the teachings of the Koran, of the Vedas 
and the Zend-Avesta, I turn away from them 
with unutterable repulsion; but when other 
teachings of the same books are brought into 
the Inner Light, the judgment could scarcely 
seem more favorable had they been spoken by 
Jesus Himself. Hospitality to the doctrines of 
the ethnic religions is in itself no virtue, and 
recognition of their worth when proven is no 
evidence of disloyalty to Christianity. Truth 
is one, and Divine, whatever the name of the 
teacher who gives it currency or the land 
whence it comes. 

[211] 



Ci^e 3|nt»at:ti Itgl^t 



In the presence of what is clearly the true 
method, let some of the distinctive messages 
of the ethnic bibles and of the Christian Bible 
be tested by their appearance in the inner 
light, and by their results in character. 
The Buddhists teach that behind all beings 
and events, older even than Amida Buddha 
himself, and, indeed, his creator, is the eternal 
law of causation. Every event and every being 
may be traced back to that voiceless, purpose- 
less, remorseless, everlasting law. Causation is 
indeed an eternal law ; of that there can be no 
doubt ; but does that fact adequately explain 
the universe and history.? In the absence of 
other evidence, let this teaching be brought 
into the Inward Light. In that silence in which 
the soul is absolutely alone, let certain ques- 
tions be put and pressed. Is it conceivable 
that a reasonable being, a person possessing 
powers of thought, affection, volition, is the 
child of a blind and unintelligent process, as 
aimless as the winds, as unfeeling as the ocean 
waves? Such an assertion, though found in 
all the bibles of the world, would be unworthy 
[212] 



m^t BtblejJ of ti^e ^otlD 

of belief. This doctrine must be rejected, be- 
cause it contradicts the intuitions. 
In the Koran are found such sentences as the 
following : " Thus doth God cause to err 
whom He pleaseth, and he directeth whom 
He pleaseth." Again, " Gabriel descends 
with the Lord's decrees concerning every 
matter." Again, " The fate of every man 
have we bound round his neck." (" Islam and 
its Founders," Stobart, p. 96.) Thus is the 
doctrine clearly taught that " God's absolute 
predestinating decree " extends to all the 
minute affairs of life. Is arbitrary predestina- 
tion true? When facts of one class alone are 
studied, it is difficult to answer the arguments 
which may be presented in its favor. If it were 
solely a matter of logic, the balance might 
incline now one way, and again another. But 
let that doctrine of pure fatalism be brought 
into the silence of the soul, and let the man 
on whom it is urged be asked, " Do you hon- 
estly believe that every event of your life is de- 
termined for you by a power outside yourself, 
without the slightest reference to any choice 
[213] 



m)t 3Intt)arD iltgi^t 



by you? " Few would be able to make that 
monstrous confession without moral as well as 
intellectual stultification. It was not attested 
by the Inward Light even with Mahomet, for 
elsewhere he denied the doctrine. 
From one of the sacred books of India I quote 
the following: " To a man contaminated by 
sensuality, neither the Vedas, nor liberality, 
nor sacrifices, nor observances, nor pious aus- 
terities, will procure felicity. A wise man must 
faithfully discharge all his moral duties, even 
though he does not constantly perform the 
ceremonies of religion. He will fall very low 
if he perform ceremonial acts only and fail 
to discharge his moral duties. There are two 
roads which conduct to perfect virtue: to be 
true, and to do no evil to any creature." 
(" Sacred Anthology," Conway, pp. 3, 4.) 
The ethical value of this teaching is instantly 
obvious. It is worthy to be in any bible. The 
clearer the light, the more like Divine revela- 
tion it appears. 

Here is a quotation from the scriptures of the 

Buddhists in China, which sounds strangely 

[214] 



C]^e Mhm of ti^e ^ot;lD 

like the teaching of Jesus. Buddha said : " A 
man who foolishly does me wrong, I will return 
to him the protection of my ungrudging love ; 
the more evil comes from him, the more good 
shall go from me ; the fragrance of these good 
actions always redounding to me, the harm 
of the slanderer's words returning to him." 
("Sacred Anthology," Conway, p. 240.) 
Such sentiments sound like echoes of the 
Sermon on the Mount. 

The value of any scriptures is not in what 
they claim for themselves, but in the measure 
of their correspondence with those everlasting 
truths of religion, and principles of conduct, 
which are written in the constitution of man, 
and which are easily discernible in the Inward 
Light. 

There is no authority in the assumption which 
a document makes for itself. The Bible com- 
mands our allegiance solely because its claims 
are certified by the ultimate authority, which 
is God in the soul of man. The authority of 
mere assumption is recognized only by those 
who do not think. Thoughtful persons will 
[215] 



Cl^e antDatD Uq^t 



press their inquiries back of the text, and 
search for some basis for faith which is more 
enduring than verbal assertion. The Christian 
should not be afraid to subject to this test 
even the Book which he believes to be the holi- 
est of all books ; because there can be no war 
between truths. What is written without, if it 
is a Divine revelation, must harmonize with 
what is written within. This was the teaching 
of Luther and of Calvin. Calvin insisted that 
every man could come into the immediate pres- 
ence of God and receive light direct from Him ; 
and Luther applied this test so rigorously as 
to refuse to accept the Epistle of James as 
canonical. The Inward Light is no new discov- 
ery. It has been recognized in all the Chris- 
tian centuries as the Indwelling Spirit of 
God. 

I will now apply this principle to the only one 
of the world's bibles of which it is possible 
for most of Occidentals intelligently to speak. 
What shall be our attitude toward the Book 
which we call the Word of God, and around 
which are twined the dearest of our memories 
[216] 



Ci^e Bibles of ti^e Worn 

and the most enduring of our hopes? It must 
be confessed, though with unspeakable sad- 
ness, that with many it seems to be losing its 
power, even becoming less than other books, 
not because it has been thoroughly studied, 
but because it is being silently and without 
reluctance ignored. One reason for this fact 
is not far for us to find. Claims have been 
made for the Bible which it does not make for 
itself. The variety of its literature, impressive 
though it be, has been overlooked. All its parts 
have been regarded as equally valuable for all 
climes and for all ages. Its essential nature has 
been singularly and inexcusably obscured. 
Let us approach it, adopting another method. 
We will simply bring its ruling ideas into the 
Inward Light. Will they endure the test? If 
the truths which it enshrines correspond with 
the deepest necessities of our moral and spirit- 
ual natures, and, so far as we know, of the 
common human nature, we may be sure that it 
is the Word of God, and the Bible of bibles. A 
frame is not a picture ; a house is not the man 
who dwells within it ; and the real Bible is not 
[ 217 ] 



Cl^e fntDatD ligi^t 



its literary form, but the ethical and spiritual 
truths which have given it its place at the head 
of the world's literature. The way to test the 
value of the Book is first to discover its ruling 
ideas, then to bring these into the Inward 
Light. 

What are those ruling ideas ? The most prom- 
inent is its doctrine of God. How is that sub- 
ject treated in our Bible? God is represented 
as a Person, as the Cause of all things, as 
Providence, as Ruler, and finally as Father. 
That implies, of course, that the universe, with 
all its vastness and complexity, is administered 
by Personality; that history has been devel- 
oped according to a good plan ; and that this 
perfect Personality can be understood only as 
He is interpreted in the terms of Fatherhood. 
The second distinguishing idea in the Bible is 
its teaching concerning deliverance from suf- 
fering and from all causes of suffering. It 
teaches that evil and suffering are temporary 
and disciplinary; that they are slowly but 
surely passing away, and that finally, no one 
can tell how many millenniums hence, they will 
[218] 



m^t i5ihm of ti^e Worn 

cease to be. The agent of this deliverance is 
Jesus Christ, a man like ourselves as to His 
nature, but One who, in His ethical being, 
was identical with Grod, as He would help all 
men sometime to become. 

The third truth which distinguishes the Bible 
concerns the being who is the subject of deliv- 
erance, viz., man. His nature is that of a spirit 
partaking of the very Being of the Deity ; he 
is in the image of God. When we look on a 
perfect man, we come as near as is possible to 
seeing God. The child inherits the very nature 
of the parent, yet is an entirely different in- 
dividuality ; so man has his nature from and in 
likeness to God, yet has an individuality of his 
own. This child of the Perfect One will realize 
his high destiny only as he is conformed to 
the will of his Father. When he is thus con- 
formed, he will be in harmony with his fellow 
men, because all those who are at one with 
God must be in loving relations with each 
other. 

Thus, in the fourth place, we are brought to 

the supreme law of life — Love. Those who love 

[219] 



Cl^e 91tt^at:ti ti^^t 



are in harmony with God, and are just, faith- 
ful, pure, true, right, in all their relations to 
one another. Love is the fulfilling of the law ; 
because God is Love, and the law is God's 
will. 

The fifth distinguishing truth of the Bible is 
the Kingdom of God. This doctrine teaches 
that the ideal life for individuals, and for the 
race, is seen in Jesus Christ; and that when 
evolution shall have finished its task, the whole 
human family having reached His stature, 
shall live together on the earth, as well as 
beyond, in concord and blessedness, and that 
God shall dwell among His people. 
This leads, of course, and finally, to the doc- 
trine of the Immortality of the Soul — that no 
child of God can really die ; that spirit, being 
of the same nature as God, is as indestructible 
as God Himself; that man is a spirit, and 
therefore partakes of the immortality of God, 
who is a Spirit. 

I ask myself, as other thoughtful people who 

have been brought up on the Christian's Bible 

must sometime do. Why should I revere this 

[220] 



Ci^e I3<ble0 of ti^e Woxlti 

Book as God's Word? I cannot interpret its 
teachings as many seem to do. I cannot think 
of all as miracles which once were called mirac- 
ulous, nor of all as literal history which was 
formerly so regarded. Shall I therefore sur- 
render my early faith, and launch out into 
cheerless agnosticism.'^ Just here great care 
and large charity should be exercised. No sys- 
tem of thought has long commanded the alle- 
giance of many people, because of the error 
it has contained. Books and institutions live 
because of the truth in them. Let us bring 
these six ruling ideas of our Bible into the 
Inward Light, and there study them. God as 
Person, Cause, Providence, Father : There is a 
way of deliverance for man from every kind 
of evil and from every form of suffering : Men 
are God's children, and brothers one of an- 
other: Love is the law of life: The Kingdom 
of God is the goal of history : Immortality is 
the soul's final destiny. 

These doctrines come in silent procession be- 
fore us and wait for their judgment. With all 
prejudice put aside, we ask ourselves. Are 
[221] 



Ci^e SlntoatD iLigi^t 



they true? What shall the answer be? No one 
can reply for another; but I believe that no 
man ever held one of them to be false, who did 
not first have to persuade himself of their fal- 
sity. When we ask, " What truths do we need 
to live by, and to complete our being?" no one, 
unless compelled to do so, can accept less than 
these six doctrines of Jesus. When I endeavor 
to balance arguments I become confused ; but 
when I ask what must be true, if human ex- 
istence is to be saved from awful mockery, and 
the creation of man from being regarded as a 
monumental crime, I see that the ruling ideas 
of the Bible must be true. Because the Bible 
satisfactorily answers the profoundest ques- 
tions which the soul of man ever asks, it shows 
itself as the Word of God, and has all the 
force and value which belong to Divine 
inspiration. 

In the presence of such truths, inquiries as to 
whether the first chapter of Genesis is to be 
interpreted literally or allegorically, or whether 
Jonah is an historical or a parabolical writing, 
or whether John wrote the fourth Gospel, 
[222] 



Cl^e ISihm of t\^t ^otlD 

seem foolish and puerile. In the Bible we are 
brought face to face with God, with deliver- 
ance, with love, with the goal of humanity, 
with life beyond the grave. The land above 
which such mountains rise is holy, however full 
of thickets and hard to penetrate its lower 
levels may be. 

The light within the soul reveals the ineffable 
glory and the abiding reality of the distin- 
guishing teachings of the Christian's Bible. 
No one need hesitate to affirm that he trusts 
the Bible because these truths shine from its 
pages; but the truths themselves have a 
foundation firmer than their presence in any 
sacred book — even their correspondence with 
the requirements of the reason and the moral 
sense. 

But the question may be raised, Are not those 
truths contained also in the ethnic bibles.'^ 
Some of them are, but, so far as I know, 
deliverance of individuals and of the race 
from sin, and all desire to sin, is promised 
nowhere else. But even if this were not true, 
this fact should trouble no one. So far as 
[223] 



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such spiritual messages are found in the bibles 
of the world, they should be recognized; and 
if they were to be found in all of them it would 
be an occasion for rejoicing. It would not show 
that the Christian Scriptures are false, but 
rather that the truth which humanity needs 
has reached further than most of us, in our 
provincialism, had supposed. Loyalty to the 
revelation in Jesus Christ does not require 
disloyalty to the truth as taught by any other 
master. Truth is truth, by whomever taught 
and wherever uttered. Everywhere there is 
light enough to live by. The marvel is not that 
so few have light, but that so few use the light 
which they have. The test of a doctrine is not, 
Who was the teacher by whom it was uttered ? 
but, rather, does it tend toward the realization 
of those moral ideals which are written in the 
nature of man? No teaching should be ac- 
cepted which, when followed to its natural con- 
clusion, results in the making of bad men. All 
doctrines may be received whose logical ten- 
dency is toward the promotion of those ideals 
of virtue which have the consensus of the 
[224] 



Cl^e Bibles oe ti^e Worn 

world's best sentiment behind them. The fatal- 
ism of Mahomet is thus ruled out, because, if 
the door of hope be closed, men will say that 
they but do as fate determines, and that they 
have no choice. The Christian doctrine of de- 
liverance is approved because it opens the 
door to hope by showing the Eternal Good- 
ness, and the universe itself, on the side of 
those who are trying to rise; and even more, 
because it shows how the verj desire for re- 
lease in itself will be stimulated. And the 
Person of Jesus is glorified because He is 
recognized as the eternal goal of humanity, 
and the expression in time of all that any need 
to know concerning God. 

After all allowances have been made for the 
" broken lights " which are to be found in the 
bibles of the world, the more impressively true 
becomes the testimony of Whittier, the laure- 
ate of the Inward Light : 

"/ gathered up the scattered rays 
Of wisdom in the early days. 
Faint gleams and broken, like the light 
Of meteors in a northern night, 
[225] 



Ci^e Slntwatti tiqfyt 



Betraying to the darkling earth 
The unseen sun which gave them birth; 
I listen to the Sibyls^ chanty 
The voice of priest and hierophant; 
I know what Indian Kreeshna saith, 
And what of life and what of death 
The demon taught to Socrates; 
And what, beneath his garden trees 
Slow-pacing J with a dream-like tread. 
The solemn-thoughted Plato said; 
Nor lack I tokens j great or small, 
Of God's clear light in each and all, 
While holding with more dear regard 
The scroll of Hebrew seer and bard, 
The starry pages promise-lit 
With Chrises Evangel over-writ. 
Thy miracle of life and death, 
Holy One of Nazareth,'^ — 

Questions of Life. 



[226] 



Ci^e CreeDjs 



CHAPTER TENTH 

Cl^e Ct;eeD)5 




N the beginning, Christi- 
anity was one man. His- 
torically it dates from 
Jesus of Nazareth. The 
Christian Church believes 
that, in a unique way, the 
Divine life was in that Man. The Church is a 
growth, and not a mechanism. At the begin- 
ning it had only the leadership of the Spirit 
— no constitution, no by-laws, no definite plan 
of operation, and no indication of future 
greatness. As in the natural world a germ 
develops through varying cycles of existence, 
so the spiritual life in Jesus has grown into 
humanity, until there is to-day the Church 
visible and invisible, and until the kingdom 
of God seems to be no more a dream, but a 
vivid and ever-extending reality. Its spirit- 
uality among the Hebrews, its intellectual and 
ethical forms among the Greeks, and its more 
[229] 



ci^e 3lntDarn itgi^t 



practical manifestations among Occidental 
peoples, are to be attributed to the adjustment 
of life to environment. 

The human mind discovers facts and seeks their 
explanation. The way in which men explain 
what they see or know is called theory. The 
creeds of Christendom are crystallized theories 
concerning Christ and the Christian revelation. 
It was inevitable that a man who, being dead, 
retained such power, should be the subject 
of speculation. This tendency was manifest 
when Jesus was alive in the flesh; for Peter 
told Him that men were questioning who He 
was. The Master, without answering, asked 
Peter for his opinion, eliciting the reply, 
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living 
God." After His death there was recognition 
of the historicity of Jesus and of the vitality 
of His words. Men believed in Him. If they 
were Jews, they would add with the emphasis 
which only a Jew could give, " I believe in 
Jesus the Christ, the Son of the living God." 
If they were Gentiles, without the Messianic 
expectation, their creed was simply belief in 
[230] 



Ci^e CteeDjs 



Jesus and in His message concerning God and 
man. Theories in regard to the new Teacher, 
and attempts to adjust His words to current 
philosophy, quickly multiplied. 
The next step was to make acceptance of the 
theories as imperative as recognition of the 
life. The Teacher had associated His own 
name with the Father and the Holy Spirit, 
and disciples had been received into His fel- 
lowship on declaring their belief in the Father, 
the Son, and the Holy Ghost. It was then 
asked. How can these names be classed to- 
gether without an imphcation of equality and 
unity? And then. How can the Father, the 
Son, and the Holy Ghost be different beings 
and yet One? Thus almost in a day specula- 
tions pushed themselves into the little com- 
munity and usurped the chief place. Em- 
phasis had been upon a Person, and the moral 
life inspired by Him; but the Person was 
soon obscured by efforts to explain His 
being. 

Creeds are formulated theories concerning 

Divine facts. In the early time Jesus was the 

[231 ] 



Cl^e SlntoatD ligi^t 



supreme reality, and men confessed faith in 
Him; but with the attempt to adjust His 
Person and teachings to other facts, simple 
confession was exchanged for complicated 
formulas of belief. The earliest creeds were 
confessions — acknowledgments of loyalty to 
Christ, and of belief in the Father, the Son, 
and the Holy Spirit. Then slight additions 
of theory were made, as in the Apostles' Creed, 
which is the oldest, the most nearly ecumenical 
and generally acceptable epitome of Christian 
faith. It is purely confessional, the voice of 
devout spirits, an outburst of the common 
Christian experience. Gladness, hope, victory, 
thrill through it, until the great and growing 
music culminates in the life everlasting. When 
speculation was fully started, the Apostles' 
Creed was enlarged, not only with the acknowl- 
edgment of Jesus as the fountain of spiritual 
life, but with attempts to explain God, to 
show how three personalities inhere in the 
Divine nature, and how the work of salvation 
is accomplished. Later, the process was still 
further complicated, and the Nicene Creed 
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Ci^e CreeDjj 



was followed in succession by those of Chalce- 
don, of Athanasius, and many others. Thus 
the early confession of Father, Son, and Holy 
Spirit gave place to speculations on the Trin- 
ity and on the universe, until at last the 
Westminster Confession was fashioned, which 
may be regarded as the culmination of an 
effort to adjust and put into creedal form 
the contents of the Christian revelation. The 
early creeds were confessions ; the later, whole 
bodies of divinity. Only when the confession 
is thus crowded out by speculation, when truth 
is made of less importance than theories con- 
cerning it, is there occasion for criticism and 
revolt. 

In studying these documents, it must be re- 
membered that inquiries concerning the eter- 
nal mysteries are inevitable and desirable. 
Speculation is the pioneer of progress. There 
has been no more of it in theology than in 
other sciences. Moreover, the universe is a 
unit, so that theories in one sphere of thought 
influence thinking in all spheres. The creeds 
represent not only the thought of the Church, 
[233] 



Ci^e fntoarD JLigi^t 



but equally the thinking of the times in which 
they were composed. The doctrine of Evolu- 
tion is a recent product ; there is no more of it 
in ancient astronomy than in ancient theology. 
If many of the creeds are outgrown, it Is be- 
cause there has been progress in everything 
else as well as in theology. They are no farther 
behind the nineteenth century than is the 
geology and biology of a century ago. The 
sciences go hand in hand; advance in one 
makes possible advance in all. Only when 
statements of doctrine are used as barriers to 
prevent children of the Light from entering 
into their heritage do we ask, What men wrote 
these creeds? Why should they be considered 
infallible.? With something of impatience we 
turn to our Bible, and ask what confessions 
it contains ; and there find that each individual 
made his own confession ; that no one was ex- 
actly like another ; and that each was suffused 
with the personality of the confessor. Every 
Individual who knows Christ as his Saviour 
has a unique experience; and unique experi- 
ence requires original expression. Nathanael 
[234] 



Ci^e CteeDjs 



said, " Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God ; Thou 
art the King of Israel." Simon Peter said, 
" Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living 
God." Thomas answered, " My Lord and my 
God." The eunuch said, " I believe that Jesus 
Christ is the Son of God." And the baptismal 
formula is, " Into the Name of the Father, 
and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." No 
two are alike. The Divine life in nature has 
an infinitely diversified expression; so has the 
Divine life in humanity. 

Creeds are mechanisms built around the grow- 
ing and expanding Life of Christ. Those 
who make them may have much of that life, 
and may have but little. Those who have the 
most of it are the least likely to attempt its 
definition and limitation. Those who have been 
conscious of the Divine Presence have striven 
to be plastic in the unseen hands, rather than 
to explore horizons which have opened before 
their vision like a northern midnight thick with 
stars. Life is always a wonder. It eludes defi- 
nition and analysis, and grows according to 
its own laws. While scholars were beating out 
[235] 



Ci^e 3|ttt»arD itgi^t 



the articles of the Confession of Chalcedon, ail 
through the world, in serene unconsciousness, 
humble spirits were following the Spirit of 
Truth in the realization of Fatherhood and 
Brotherhood. While the Reformed divines, by 
every device known to logic, were packing 
words with sovereignty, reprobation, and ex- 
piation, millions who never heard of a logical 
process were yielding to Jesus, and learning 
at first-hand that He is the Way, the Truth, 
and the Life. The stars move in their courses, 
whether the astronomy is Ptolemaic or Coper- 
nican; heather and furze embroider Scotch 
hills in blessed oblivion of all that has been 
written about the origin of species; and men 
are born, live, work, think, write, perform 
heroic acts, make literature, and die, without 
the slightest acquaintance with the theories 
which distinguish one school of medicine from 
another. Life can never be expressed in terms 
of mechanism. There is something in the 
heavens which eludes logic. Poetry and music 
can come nearer than mathematics to describ- 
ing a tree with its unseen chemistries, its silent 
[236] 



Ci^e CtceHis 



but ever-active forces, as it rises from a seed, 
meets the sunlight, and measures its strength 
with storms. Creeds have been inevitable, be- 
cause Christianity rests upon facts and truths 
which are known to be such as the result of in- 
tellectual processes. Those who most decry 
reason trust to its conclusions. Revelations are 
always made through our mental faculties. 
The Light is within. The Almighty chooses 
to stand before the judgment- seat of man. 
Creeds bear witness to the greatness of man ; 
they show that he dares to go everywhere 
with the torch of his own thought. Instead of 
showing intellectual bondage, they bear wit- 
ness that in all ages Christians have thought 
for themselves, even when they have not been 
willing for others to do so. As generation 
after generation has put its ideas of God, 
Christy and the spiritual universe into writ- 
ten form, it has simply registered the results 
of its investigations. But coincident with the 
process, unseen as the spirit in man, or the 
breath of the south wind in the springtime, 
something has transpired which in a very little 
[ 237 ] 



Ci^e SlntoatH iLtglit 



while has emptied those fine phrases of their 
meaning, and brought in other and usually 
more satisfying ideas which require new ex- 
pression. Physical life never rests. Slowly but 
unceasingly it thrills and throbs in gardens 
and orchards, in meadows and forests, in sum- 
mer and winter, in day and night; and the 
Divine life which was in Christ never rests, 
but is ever winning its way into individual 
hearts, transforming institutions, revolution- 
izing States, bringing in the day of love. 
New life is the superlative fact in the move- 
ment in humanity which began with Jesus 
Christ. Old institutions have fallen; ancient 
theories of ethics have dropped out of sight; 
hoary superstitions have disappeared, at the 
very time that speculations concerning Christ 
were most confused with Christ Himself. As 
some lofty spirit hears those of smaller stature 
trying to account for his greatness, and smiles 
as he rises to grander tasks, so, undisturbed 
by puny speculations, the Spirit of Truth 
moves along His shining pathway, continuing 
revelations, working miracles, and by never- 
[238] 



Ci^e CreeDjs 



ceasing sacrifice releasing the groaning crea- 
tion. Even when God has been represented as 
cruel and heartless, men have had revelations 
in secret which have filled their dull hearts 
with hope, their barren lives with service, and 
lifted their thoughts " to take in heights be- 
3^ond the stars." In other words, the life fias 
been more than the mechanism. Creeds are 
essential to our fallible thinking, but the 
Spirit has never yet been imprisoned in a 
creed. 

The New Testament always presents the Christ 
in terms of life ; His teachings thrill with life ; 
He was incarnate ; He came into a living man ; 
The Life was the light of men; He taught 
by words; inspired by influence; moved upon 
society by what He was. One of His greatest 
utterances concerning Himself was, " I came 
that they may have life, and may have it 
abundantly." He said, " I am the Way, the 
Truth, and the Life." He represented the 
process by which others were to become like 
Him as a birth from above. He left no rules, 
wrote no book, made no laws, framed no gov- 
[239] 



Ci^e gitttoatt) Htgl^t 



ernment; said that what He came to achieve 
would be like a mustard-seed. His lessons were 
taught in terms of life. God is the " Father " ; 
prayer is the intercourse of spirits ; " Pente- 
cost" was a new and unexpected manifesta- 
tion of spiritual energy. He never touched a 
higher note than when he said, " Because I 
live, ye shall live also.'' The state from which 
He came to save men was death ; that to which 
He saves them is life. 

While men will always attempt to harmonize 
facts and truths, there will always be facts 
and truths which defy adjustment and har- 
mony. An eagle and a lily can never be ad- 
justed; a meadow lark and a hippopotamus 
can never be harmonized ; all that can be said 
is that both live — their harmony is in unseen 
spheres. Creeds have never told much of what 
Christ has been to the world ; they have been 
filled with speculations about Him rather than 
with Him. He is life manifesting itself in 
righteousness. What he requires for expres- 
sion is not logic, but holy character. Men have 
tried to tell how the Infinite subsists ; how the 
[240] 



Cl^e CreeDjJ 



Unfathomable works; what will be in the 
eternities ; while He has been saving individual 
sinners, creating finer conditions in society, 
introducing new ethical standards, bringing 
in hope, and putting in the place of cruel hate 
and sordid greed the love of God and man. 
The essential things of Christ have never been 
written in doctrinal formulae. The Apostle 
said, " He that loveth not his brother whom 
he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath 
not seen." The world waits for a creed in which 
one article shall be, " I believe in the brother- 
hood of man." In that is more of Christ than 
could be packed in a thousand pages about 
" the Eternal Generation." The Church will 
always have a creed, for while men live they 
must think, and while they think they will 
have creeds. But gradually enigmatic utter- 
ances concerning fathomless mysteries will be 
replaced by some such words as these : " We 
believe that the pure in heart shall see God; 
that ' Whosoever loveth is born of God and 
knoweth God ' ; that Jesus Christ reveals in 
humanity all we need to know of God and of 
[241 ] 



m^t 3Intoatli JLtiji^t 



the possibilities of man; that He saves from 
sin all who follow Him; that love of the 
brethren is the test of discipleship. We believe 
in the continuous leadership of the Spirit of 
Truth; that all things are in God's hands, 
and never can escape from Him. We believe 
in the brotherhood of man ; the communion of 
saints ; that ' whatsoever a man soweth, that 
shall he also reap ' ; and in the life everlast- 
ing." Along some such lines the creed of the 
future will be written. It will come fresh and 
throbbing from experience of truth as it is 
revealed in the Inward Light. The Divine 
life in humanity can neither be expressed nor 
imprisoned in any form of words, and the 
Spirit's work, like the elemental forces, goes 
on untouched and undisturbed by human specu- 
lation. 

The progress of Christianity, or the growth 
of Christ into the life of the world, cannot be 
learned from doctrinal confessions. They seem 
to have moved in a circle. At first they were 
simple and heartfelt expressions of personal 
trust in the Master, and the utterance of faith 
[M2] 



Cl^e CteeDjsi 



in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Later there 
grew around these central truths a body of 
doctrine. The simplicity of the Apostles' Creed 
gave place to the slight complexity of the 
Nicene Creed, and that to the greater com- 
plexity of the Creed of Chalcedon, and so on, 
until the childlike confessions of earlier times 
entirely disappeared from the Church. The 
tendency toward creedal elaboration culmi- 
nated in the Westminster Assembly. Since then 
there has been a reverse movement toward sim- 
plicity, toward acceptance of the Apostles' 
Creed as sufficient for confessional purposes. 
Compare the Apostles' Creed with that of 
the National Congregational Council. Does 
the comparison give any clear idea of the 
growth of Christianity.? Is not this the con- 
clusion? — after two thousand years of strife 
the Church is slowly getting back to its start- 
ing-point. How many think the Council's 
Creed preferable to the Apostles'.? Does the 
Council's Creed have anything more satisfy- 
ing concerning the Divine existence than " I 
believe in God, the Father Almighty " ? Does 
[243] 



Ci^e SlntoarD Itgi^t 



it shed one ray of light on the Person of our 
Lord ? There is the music of anthems and the 
swell of great organs in the following from 
the oldest of creeds : " I believe in the Holy 
Ghost; the holy Catholic Church; the com- 
munion of saints ; the forgiveness of sins ; the 
resurrection of the body ; and the life everlast- 
ing." The creeds of the world tell nothing of 
the growth of Christ as a vital power into 
human thought and character. They have the 
same relation to Him as churches, cathedrals, 
and liturgies. Cathedrals show that men in 
different times have had varying ideas of what 
buildings best honored their Master; and lit- 
urgies show how people have chosen to express 
their worship. But liturgies and architecture 
cannot tell how that Man of Galilee has be- 
come the Master-thought of all our thinking 
and the Master-light of all our seeing. The 
growth of the Christ-life in the world must 
be sought among the people, where He still 
goes about doing good, binding up broken 
hearts, opening blind eyes, casting out devils, 
and preaching a new day to the poor. 
[244] 



Ci^e CteeD^ 



But interrogate society, institutions, and the 
life of man. Leave the fact that the Gospel 
has been proclaimed in all ages and lands; 
forget, for the time, temples and cathedrals, 
music, choirs, priests, preachers; simply con- 
sider human life as it may be studied in cus- 
toms and institutions : do they speak any more 
distinctly than doctrinal confessions concern- 
ing what Christ is and has done? Wherever 
He has been preached, at once and of necessity 
the life of love has begun. Its growth has been 
slow, for its environment has been unfavor- 
able. What crimes were once enacted in the 
name of justice and law! What wretches pol- 
luted the splendor of the Cassarean throne! 
A philosophy of despair had taken the place 
of religion. Augustus, having failed to revive 
the old State religion, had resorted to magi- 
cians and soothsayers from Egypt and the 
East; those who claimed respectability put 
little children on the street to die. On an island 
in the Tiber the aged were often left, like 
worn-out horses. Imagine a world without hos- 
pitals, asylums, children's homes, fresh-air 
[245] 



m)t SIntDarD ligl^t 



funds ! Think of tens of thousands of people 
gathering to see men kill one another ! Remem- 
ber that that was done in the heart of the most 
splendid and in many respects the best nation 
which the world had ever known ; and that it 
was not exceptional, but that what the capital 
was the provinces were. Remember that slavery 
existed in well-nigh every land; that woman 
was degraded ; that fathers had the power of 
life and death over their children ; that divorce 
was almost as common as marriage ; and that 
sensuality was exalted to worship. In that 
dark and awful degradation were many bright 
spots. Man is not and never has been wholly 
bad. Serene and beautiful spirits have never 
been entirely unknown. Marcus Aurelius sat 
upon the same throne as Nero and Caligula ; 
Cornelia walked the streets of the same city 
as Agrippina; nevertheless cruelty held the 
sceptre, love had little honor, and humanity 
did not seem to be moving toward better 
things. 

That young Nazarene lived and died. The 

words which He spoke were treasured and re- 

[246] 



Cl^e €vtW 



peated, and the subtile something which we 
call life — for it had the power of reproducing 
itself — began to germinate and to extend. 
Wherever that life went, society was changed. 
Gladiatorial exhibitions were given up in re- 
sponse to an appeal in the name of Christ; 
asylums were built, because He took little 
children in His arms; the poor, often not 
wisely, were cared for, because they were of 
the humanity into which He had come; hos- 
pitals were built, because it was His mission 
to heal diseases, and almost always in connec- 
tion with churches. The dialogues of Plato 
stimulate speculation; the influence of Jesus 
bears fruit in holy character. Other masters 
have had a few disciples, but where the mes- 
sage of Jesus has gone, the church, the school, 
the hospital, the asylum, those great sources 
of moral regeneration, are found side by side. 
They belong together, and are the efflorescence 
of a common life. He taught the brotherhood 
of man. To teach it, and to reahze it, are dif- 
ferent things, but brotherhood grows from 
Him as a tree from a seed ; and the very rabble 
[247] 



Ci^e 31ntDarD itgi^t 



that is ready to sack the churches will cheer 
His Name to the echo. No real democracy was 
ever known before Jesus washed His disciples' 
feet, and taught the world that he who would 
be chief should be the servant of all. Laws 
formerly were made for kings; now they are 
made for men. Little children are embraced 
in the protection of the State; woman is the 
equal of man ; competition is giving place to 
cooperation ; duelling is a disgrace, except in 
France and Germany, and there it is a farce ; 
slavery is nearly gone, for to buy and sell a 
man is to make merchandise of a son of God ; 
and while the armaments of the world are 
greater than ever, each nation dreads to as- 
sume the responsibility of precipitating con- 
flict. These changes are symptomatic of others 
more striking. Churches, charities, schools, 
are as nothing when balanced against hope, 
joy, love, and the consciousness of a meaning 
and a chance in life. 

The saddest fact of the old time was its hope- 
lessness. Cruelty in conduct is the expression 
of despair in philosophy. Show men that they 
[248] 



Cl^e Ct:eeD0 



are in an infinite dungeon whose only escape 
is by death, and the wail of the Buddhist will 
everywhere be heard, " And life is woe ! " 
Epictetus and Aurelius faced the solemn 
mysteries with heroic spirits, but they had no 
power to bind up broken hearts ; and while 
their teachings may have nerved a few to en- 
durance, they inspired no enthusiasm, and 
opened no new and larger horizons. 
Need the other side of this picture be sketched? 
Can the living Christ be found in society and 
history? Is He not saving men to-day? Who 
is that preacher thrilling thousands with his 
message? One who formerly was a drunkard. 
Who is that missionary leading in the trans- 
formation of a State? One who was once a 
waif in an almshouse. Who is that woman 
choosing to go among the vilest human wrecks, 
teaching them, praying with them, feeding 
them, in peril for them, to save them? One 
who learned her lesson from Him who died 
for harlots and thieves. Hallucinations inspire 
no such enthusiasms. Who shall explain the 
marvel? Why does it need to be explained? 
[249] 



m^t gntuatd ligi^t 



Shall we try to analyze the south wind be- 
fore we breathe the fragrance of the spring- 
time or listen to the singing of the birds? 
Motherhood, with its heart of love and arms 
of steel, needs no explanation. The spiritual 
leadership of the world is a fact; that is all 
that we need to know. 

The creeds tell us what fallible men have 
thought about Jesus the Christ. They are 
worthy of study. They are honest attempts 
to answer ever-recurring questions. All men 
have creeds. They exist in the history of the 
Church like milestones on a pathway which 
has been traversed; they are invaluable as 
testimonies ; but it is criminal to use them as 
standards for all time. Wisdom was not bom 
yesterday, and will not die to-morrow. Noth- 
ing infallible can be taught through fallible 
speech. Progress depends on union with some 
one who never ceases to grow, or with some 
one who can be forever approached but never 
reached. The Life is eternally progressive; 
it is never one day simply what it was the day 
before. The thoughts of men about it must 
[250] 



Ci^e CreeDjsi 



change with its growth; that which is true 
of it to-day may be inadequate to-morrow. 
Death alone never changes. The creeds are 
the results of the honest efforts of earnest men 
to express their thought on eternal mysteries. 
The work of earnest and good men always 
contains some lesson worth studying. Those 
symbols have holy memories twined around 
them. They have grown into the thought of 
the Church, been chanted in its liturgies, 
taught to childhood^ studied by manhood, 
and held aloft like banners in front of the 
advancing Christian host; but they give very 
little idea of Christ. He must be found — as 
He always was found when He was in the 
flesh — in the midst of the want and woe, the 
vice and crime, the sickness and misery, the 
desolation and death of humanity, comfort- 
ing the sorrowing, blessing the children, heal- 
ing the sick, saving the sinning, preaching 
the Grospel to the poor, and telling all men 
of the Father's house and the Father's love. 
The Spirit that lighteth every man is the 
source and fountain of spiritual life, there- 
[251] 



Cl^e antpatu JLigl^t 



fore the essential thing is to get in touch with 
Him. As one torch Hghts another without 
itself being dimmed, so He lights the minds 
and thrills the hearts of all who will to do His 
will. It is not necessary to know truth in order 
to be right. That would be imperative if Chris- 
tianity were a mechanism. He who would make 
a watch must know all about watches ; but He 
who would be a Christian must trust the In- 
ward Light. If we manufacture our Christi- 
anity, then perfect rules are essential ; but the 
life of God in the soul grows according to its 
own nature, and the essential thing is not what 
we know, but whether the hindrances to the 
growth of that life have been removed. If 
one bom blind were to inquire about the stars, 
would he be offered an astronomy? His eyes 
must be opened before the constellations and 
the upper deeps will have any meaning for 
him. Such a desire to be right as turns from 
evil, and reaches toward holiness, must pre- 
cede knowledge of holy things. That desire is 
met by the Divine love, and from that union, 
with no greater mystery than always sur- 
[252] 



Ci^e CteeDis 



rounds the beginning of life, holiness is pro- 
duced. The process has been going on for cen- 
turies. Many have vainly imagined that they 
were spiritual because they accepted the Con- 
fession ; and many have refused the Confession, 
and proved by indisputable evidence that they 
had the life. This shows what the Church 
really is — the society of those who obey the 
Inward Light, or who are possessed by the 
Divine life. 

Life must manifest itself. " By their fruits 
ye shall know them." Wherever there is 
growth in likeness to the historic Christ 
there is the Christ-life, whatever the philos- 
ophy of the Master or the universe; and 
wherever that growth is absent the Christ-life 
is lacking, even though there be Confession, 
prayer, baptismal font, bread, and wine- 
crowned communion table, hymns, and sacred 
liturgies. 

" To do Thy will is more than praise, 

As words are less than deeds; 

And simple trust can find Thy ways 

We miss with chart of creeds, 

[ 253 ] 



Ci^e 31nt»atD JLtgi^t 



" Our Friend, Our Brother, and Our Lord, 
What may Thy service he ? 
Nor name, nor form, nor rituxil word, 
But simply following Thee.'* 

The Inward Light reveals God: 
It makes more vivid the eternal evangel — 
the message of hope to those who suffer; 
of salvation to those who sin; and of im- 
mortal life to those who face the mystery of 
death : 

It illuminates the essential meaning of the 
Cross : 

It shows that the mission of the individual 
Christian, and of the Church, is to continue 
Christ's work of personal salvation and of 
social redemption : 

This light, beginning with conscious life, is 
continued through many experiences, and will 
grow fuller and brighter so long as man is 
spiritually receptive: 

It is dimly shadowed in the creeds of Christen- 
dom ; is clearer in the theology of the people ; 
still clearer in the amelioration of society; 
and it is slowly but surely working toward 
[254] 



Ci^e Creetiis 



its perfect expression in the spiritual develop- 
ment of the world : 

It makes possible the perfect revelation of 
God to man, and of man to himself. 

" A sweeter song shall then be heard — 
The music of the world^s accord y 
Confessing Christ the Inward Word. 

" That song shall swell from shore to shore, 
One faith, one hope, one love restore 
The seamless robe which Jesus wore.'' 



[^55] 



i^inumncejsj to ^p(t:(tual Mmn 



CHAPTER ELEVENTH 

l^inDmncejJ to spiritual t^i^ion 




E are in the midst of a spir- 
itual movement, which in 
some respects is like the 
evangelical revival under 
the Wesleys and the Great 
Awakening in New Eng- 
land. The study of such eras in spiritual 
history is always instructive, whether we ap- 
proach them as historians, psychologists, or 
as mystics. They might be regarded as natural 
phenomena, or as manifestations of super- 
natural power ; but such inquiries into causes 
would be foreign to the purpose of this chap- 
ter. However they may be accounted for, they 
are mighty and beneficent facts in the evolu- 
tion of our race. They are like tides that reach 
a higher level every time they flow. They dis- 
tinguish no one nation and no one religion. 
They have been as marked features in the 
growth of Buddhism and of Mahometanism 
[259] 



Ci^e 3IntJoat:D Ltiji^t 



as of Christianity; they are akin to the Re- 
vival of Learning in the Middle Ages, and to 
the new sense of nationality in the last years 
of the nineteenth and the first years of the 
twentieth centuries. Every force is liable to 
abuse, the enormity of which is usually a fair 
index of the benefits which would have followed 
in its train if it had been properly used. 
No greater blessing could be granted to any 
people than such a revealing of spiritual re- 
alities as would enable them to be as sure of 
the unseen as they are of the seen, and would 
make it easier for them to respond to the 
highest motives, even in the midst of pollution 
and weakness, than to yield to the fascinations 
of folly and the allurements of the senses. 
The ability to realize God, and to live accord- 
ing to one's own consciousness of what truth 
and right require, is the richest endowment 
which can be conferred on any people. Such 
an awakening ought hot to be an occasion for 
extravagant and insane nervous disturbances. 
It should rather be a time for clear vision, 
sane thought, lofty ideals, and a sensible and 
[260] 



pntimnceicj to Spiritual M^ion 

sincere devotion to what is best for the indi- 
vidual and for society. In reaHty it is a new 
appreciation of the light within; it leads to 
a willingness to see all objects as that reveals 
them. Of revivals which are distinguished by 
doleful faces, drivelling sentimentality, and 
religious cant, the world has had too many; 
but for those which would result in intellectual 
illumination, moral earnestness, devotion to 
truth and right, and an appreciation of the 
common humanity, all wise souls will unceas- 
ingly pray. 

The characteristics of the spiritual movements 
of our time are chiefly ethical. Drunkards are 
ceasing to drink ; gamblers are becoming hon- 
est; those who have caused loss to others are 
making restitution ; the saloons are emptying 
as the churches are filling. Tested by their 
fruit, these movements are from God. Will 
the wave touch our eminently respectable 
modern life with a fine enthusiasm which shall 
make men eager to trust God, be good, and live 
in right relations with their fellow-men? No 
one knows much about the wind, and none 
[261 ] 



Ci^e ^tt^avh Ltgi^t 



know much about the ebb and flow of the spir- 
itual tides. Among the things which are dis- 
tinctly visible, however, are a few of the hin- 
drances to any deep work of grace in our time. 
In substance these have been the same in all 
ages, because human tendencies are constant. 
What most obstructs spiritual vision? What 
prevents the Inward Light from filling the 
souls of men with its radiance ? 
The consciousness of being out of harmony 
with truth and right always has this effect. 
A deep and rich experience must be preceded 
by the banishment from thought and conduct 
of every evil and of every doubtful thing. 
This is an imperative condition. It should ante- 
date all inquiry as to necessary beliefs. If one 
would know whether he must have any creed, 
he must begin by living according to the light 
which he already has. By "evil things," merely 
great moral transgressions are not implied. 
" Little foxes spoil the vines," and small sins 
with their unseen hands will surely retard the 
upward movement of the soul. There can be 
no peace in the heart of one who has grown 
[262] 



i^innmncejs to Spiritual a^dsion 

rich at the expense of the welfare of another, 
and there ought to be none until he has re- 
stored what he has unjustly gained. He who 
gets his pleasure at the risk of the moral de- 
terioration of a human soul, however obscure 
or frail, may be as wise as Dr. Faust, but 
sooner or later he will find himself as vile as 
Mephistopheles. Satisfaction in the moral 
ruin of a soul is a state of mental and moral 
midnight, something to be dreaded more than 
physical suffering and spiritual chastisement. 
Willingness to seek individual gratification at 
such a cost reveals an ethical nature out of 
which only vice and crime can grow. 
" It is nobody's business what I do, so long as 
I keep my conduct to myself. I do not mean 
to harm anyone, and I have no desire to shock 
anyone, but my private life is my own, and I 
shall do as I please." Yes, and the world may 
never discover what that man does ; neverthe- 
less there is a terrible fallacy in his argument, 
because he who knows himself wrong, and who 
is unwilling to put himself right, even if no 
human eye ever detects his misdeeds, hinders 
[263] 



Ci^e 3lnt»at:D iLtgi^t 



his own growth in spiritual directions. He is 
not cultivating righteousness for the right's 
sake; he is repudiating essential morality, 
and insisting that that only is evil which 
brings the world's maledictions. But goodness 
is not conditioned on an audience, and he who 
is vile within will not long be pure without. 
Spiritual growth signifies simply increase in 
ability to discern what is right, and willing- 
ness to act accordingly. Every one of the car- 
dinal sins is essentially evil; its quality does 
not depend on its publicity; and every one 
of the cardinal virtues is essentially good, 
whether it stand forth in the glare of the 
world or be unseen by human eyes. He who 
cherishes a vile thought, or revels in a lasciv- 
ious suggestion, is obstructing his own prog- 
ress, and in so doing is using the influence 
of his personality to retard the moral advance- 
ment of the community. Would one help to 
promote a spiritual awakening? The first 
thing for him to do, without regard to his 
creed or to his position, is to put away every- 
thing that is wrong, and so far as possible 
[264] 



l^ittDranceji to Spiritual a^ijston 

to make compensation for the evil already 
done. We shall come to know what to believe 
about the infinities and the eternities when we 
have begun to do what is right in the house 
in which we live and among the people with 
whom we associate. 

Dogmatism, where positive assertion is pre- 
sumptuous, often obscures the vision of those 
who are longing for certainty concerning the 
fundamental realities of life. It begins usually 
by reversing the order as to what is essential 
to Christian character. The first inquiry 
should be not "What shall I believe.'^" but 
rather, " What shall I do? " Those who begin 
by asking what they shall do are not long left 
in darkness as to what they should believe. 
Why do so many make this mistake.'^ Has it 
come from Paul's answer, " Believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." 
If so, it has been the result of a grievous mis- 
interpretation of the apostle's meaning. He 
put no creed before that inquirer. His words 
imply only this. Trust yourself to Jesus Christ, 
and you will be saved. He required no knowl- 
[265] 



€]^e antDaru Ltgi^t 



edge of the person of our Lord, no theory as 
to His preexistence or His metaphysical unity 
with the Father. PauPs conditions of salva- 
tion were purely practical. The tendency to 
put dogmatism in the place of action never 
came from a correct interpretation of this or 
any other passage in the recorded utterances 
of Paul. 

" But we cannot compel our beliefs, therefore 
we are not responsible for them. We admire 
the character of Jesus, and we would like to 
be like Him; but when we are asked about 
His sinless birth, about His rank in the God- 
head, about incidents in His history which 
seem incredible, we are confused. If you were 
telling us that a man is a Christian when he 
tries to be like what Christ was, and trusts 
God for the rest, we could understand that." 
That is just what should be said always and 
everywhere, for the simple reason that it is 
the only teaching that most persons can com- 
prehend. Few of us are metaphysicians. In- 
tuition does more for most men than logic. 
Christianity is not believing something; it is 
[ 266 ] 



ipinDrancesJ to Spiritual a^f^ton 

being something. Right beliefs are essential 
to spiritual living, but they are the fruit of 
holy character — rather, the roots out of which 
it grows. Be good, as you know what good- 
ness is, and your creed will take care of itself. 
These considerations are fundamental. 
"What shall I believe about prayer?'' 
There is but one rational answer. Be good, 
and you will know. " What shall I think about 
the virgin birth and the physical resurrection 
of Jesus? " Be good first, and you will some- 
time have the true belief — if it be essential 
that you should have it, which I doubt very 
much. "But how about the miracles?" Seek 
goodness, and you will find that no miracle in 
all history is comparable with that of a holy 
character. " But how about the Cross, and the 
Sacrifice by which we are taught that salva- 
tion is secured? " Learn to sacrifice yourself, 
in order that you may ameliorate the condi- 
tion of your fellow men, and the necessity and 
univarsality of sacrifice as the means of human 
elevation will quickly appear. 
The dogmatic habit not only reverses the order 
[267] 



Cl^e antoatu ligi^t 



of nature in spiritual growth; it also culti- 
vates a state of self-complacency that is hostile 
to clear thinking. That was a wise remark of 
Ruskin, in his " Essay on the Mystery of 
Life," in which he said that the best work in 
the arts had been done by those who knew 
themselves to be wrong — ^that is, by those who 
understood that they had something to strive 
for, yet who were sure that their purpose was 
right. Dogmatism leads to intellectual con- 
ceit. He who thinks himself wise strives neither 
to learn nor to improve. I have sometimes 
thought that dogmatism is the infirmity of 
slothful minds; that those too indolent to 
think, endeavor to make compensation for 
their indolence by arrogance of assertion. 
Such conceit is the exact opposite of the tem- 
per which Jesus inculcated in the Beatitude 
about the meek inheriting the earth. Light 
shines for those who are willing to look within ; 
who realize that God, duty, immortality, are 
subjects too great for syllogisms and epi- 
grams; who are honest enough to confess ig- 
norance, and humble enough to receive truth, 
[ 268 ] 



^inDmncej8 to ^pit^itual a^ijsion 

however revealed. Dogmatism comes about as 
near to the unpardonable sm as most persons 
ever approach. 

A still more vital hindrance to spiritual sight 
now emerges: it is the impossibility of form- 
ing any adequate conception of the per- 
sonality of God. This is a comparatively new 
difficulty. It is largely the result of the ad- 
vancement of science and the expansion of the 
universe as an object of knowledge. When the 
conception of the universe did not exist, and 
the Deity was regarded as a sublimated human 
sovereign, the Divine personality was easily 
comprehended. But what does the personality 
of God mean now ? What is the universe ? Does 
it signify anything definite to our thought.'^ 
Is it not mere inconceivable vastness, in which 
reside immeasurable energies? What is per- 
sonality when applied to infinity and eternity ? 
Does not its usual attribute of individuality 
disappear? And who shall explain how there 
may be personality and yet no individuality? 
The true spiritual life must be the harmony 
of the individual with the universal — a 
[ 269 ] 



Cl^e 31tttDarD ILtgl^t 



thought which I can only vaguely compre- 
hend. To those who are seeking for a basis of 
f-aith, and who have decided that at least 
they will be perfectly honest, these are per- 
plexing problems. They cannot be evaded or 
their difficulty minimized; they must be an- 
swered, if life is to be more than a mockery. 
Happy that inquirer who is early taught 
that faith is inevitable; that, sooner or later, 
all men will reach a point where attempts at 
physical sight and philosophical inquiry alike 
are in vain, and that nothing remains but the 
adoption of such a working hypothesis of 
life as will satisfy the rational and moral 
powers in their hours of deepest need. From 
this point faith must be the guide. Faith is 
not a violation of reason ; faith is the supreme 
effort of reason. It is believing in the best, 
because nothing less will satisfy the soul. 
Increase of knowledge, for the time at least, 
has become a hindrance to spiritual vision, 
because it has opened spaces and immensities 
too vast even for speculation to penetrate. 
When we become accustomed to thinking in 
[270] 



i^(nDmnce0 to Spiritual M^ion 

the terms of the new science, this obstacle will 
in a measure disappear. For those who have 
learned to trust, when their intellectual facul- 
ties can read no farther, the light has already 
begun to dawn. They have the vision of 
faith. 

Another condition which obscures spiritual 
sight is the absorption in things which are 
seen, which is inseparable from our present 
state of existence. The struggle to live neces- 
sitates concentration of attention on things 
physical. Spiintual realities have little chance 
to penetrate the minds even of the best of men. 
The consequence is that a habit of thinking 
and conversing about subjects of minor impor- 
tance is cultivated. Meetings of leaders of the 
churches are more for discourse concerning 
the administration of institutions than about 
saving people from a vicious environment and 
the sway of ignoble ideas. Committees are ap- 
pointed having as their object how to do 
things which are of no great importance ; but 
there are few committees inquiring how to 
reach those who are living as if there were no 
[271] 



CJe 9!ntoatD Ltgi^t 



God. " Out of the abundance of the heart 
the mouth speaketh." The most of the best 
men and women are absorbed with pleasure, 
with plans for getting richer, with efforts to 
make their way, with what others think about 
them, with a thousand commonplace and un- 
worthy schemes for self-exaltation, rather 
than with the most important of conceivable 
quests, the knowledge of God and the way of 
life. Commercialism dominates the time; its 
spirit is in the air. The things which are seen 
all know to be temporal, but few realize that 
the things which are not seen are eternal. It 
was said of Moses, " He endured as seeing 
Him who is invisible." How many see Him 
who is invisible, the Fountain of Being, and 
the One on whom all are dependent .f^ 
This absorption in things seen is the charac- 
teristic of no class or community or land. It 
is everywhere. He who has no time to medi- 
tate on the unseen, need not wonder that to 
him it appears unreal. The vision of the unseen 
is for those who are willing to make the effort 
to explore the darkness. What mortals we are ! 
[272] 



l^inDtancejs to Spiritual M^ion 

We are hurrying toward an inevitable end, 
and yet most of us live as though this physical 
life would continue forever. We listen to the 
appeals of truth and right, and we think more 
about how we shall invest the coupon of one 
bond, than how we may get into vital connec- 
tion with the only really great motive for 
holy conduct. 

The keeper of a lighthouse, in order that the 
light may not be dimmed, polishes his glass 
until its surface is translucent. The man of 
business watches the markets, investigates 
credits, keeps his eye on the " ticker " almost 
every moment, in order that nothing may im- 
pede his business. Yet most people seem to 
think that all that they need to do for their 
spirits is occasionally to attend church, and 
at all other times systematically to neglect 
all that appeals to their higher natures. 
If the mighty wave of spirituality which in the 
opening years of this century seems to be mov- 
ing around the world should leave any partic- 
ular place untouched, it would not be alto- 
gether surprising. Men are absorbed in other 
[273] 



Cl^e SIntoarD iLfgl^t 



things. They are not expecting spiritual in- 
spirations. They do not really wish them. 
They are not willing to pay the price for 
them. They will not pray, " Create within me 
a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit 
within me." An answer to that prayer would 
mean a revolution. We keep up the mad com- 
petition for what we do not need, and the light 
is obscured. 

But still the question presses. Is there noth- 
ing which can be done to remove the obstruc- 
tion and to let in the light? Does a strange 
spiritual yearning enter our minds, and an 
intense desire to be right take possession of 
our hearts? What shall be done? The people 
who are members of churches, or at least who 
are in attendance on their worship, what may 
they do? They should be willing to do any- 
thing to win the supreme prize of life. Are 
they willing to be poor, for the sake of being 
good? to be obscure, if in lowly places they 
may find the truth? to be satisfied to be un- 
known, if thereby they may the better serve 
their fellow men? Is not the goal worthy of 
[274] 



i^(nDt:ancej8 to ^pititnal M^ion 

the endeavor? At least all may be honest with 
themselves, and put away every appearance, 
much more every fact, of evil. What a glow 
rises in the heart of the man who dares to do 
this! It is like lifting a curtain and allowing 
the sun to sweep into a dark room. He who, 
looking into his own heart, finds therein no 
lecherous imaginations and no selfish desires, 
or who even devotes one day to earnest effort 
to serve his fellow men, will find at least a 
little light falling on his darkest problems. 
Unwillingness to do this is the greatest of all 
spiritual hindrances. What the world needs 
more than anything else is the witness of 
really good men. It trusts all whom it believes 
are seeking to live the righteous life; they 
become reflectors for the Divine light. 
Those who are placed in positions of influence 
should devote themselves in a broad, generous, 
and constructive way to the study and the 
interpretation of truth, so that the reason 
and the moral sense of intelligent inquirers 
as to the religious life need not be antagonized. 
If it be said that truth is truth, and that it 
[275] 



m^t 9Int»at:D Itgi^t 



will submit to no compromise, the reply is, 
Exactly so; but the practical questions con- 
cern interpretations of facts, rather than 
facts themselves. Differences between earnest 
souls usually have to do with theories rather 
than truths. If no man would ever teach what 
his heart in its best moments condemns, diver- 
sities of interpretation would soon disappear. 
Many become confused as to their logic, and 
then, when the intuitions of their hearts open 
a clear path to reality, they do not dare to 
pursue it to the end. 

A rational interpretation of a truth ought 
always to be preferred, even though all the 
traditions are on the other side. A statement 
of doctrine against which a man's moral sense, 
or his reason, rises in protest, can never be 
true for any man. A written word is far more 
likely to be misunderstood than a moral intui- 
tion. Only the largest and most satisfying of 
all possible interpretations of the life of man, 
of his duty, of his relation to his fellow men 
and to the universe, can satisfy a soul filled 
with a passion for reality. He who is able to 
[ 276 ] 



i^inDrancejs to ^pirftxml BijsKon 

present the changeless facts of the moral order 
so that the hearts of men shall respond to 
them as true, will do more than any mere 
evangelist to hasten a spiritual awakening 
which will purify the thoughts and ennoble 
the characters of men. Moreover, there is need 
that attention be withdrawn from the mint, 
anise, and cummin of rights and liturgies, 
of creeds and ceremonies, of miracles and 
forms, that it may be fixed on the everlasting 
realities which alone can satisfy souls which 
think and aspire. Are we like grist in an in- 
finite mill whose wheels roll on forever? or the 
puppets of a heartless process in which resist- 
ance is vain.?. or are all men and things under 
the eye and in the hands of Love, escape from 
which is impossible? Vengeance is foreign to 
the universe. The conception of the punish- 
ment of a finite individual as lasting forever 
comes very close to the negation of God. 
Whether I understand it or not, the heart of 
the universe yearns for every " barefooted 
beggar boy " as a mother yearns for her 
offspring. When these truths, and the like, 
[277] 



Cl^e gintoatD tiQ^t 



are appreciated, it will be difficult for any to 
think lightly of themselves, of their fellow 
men, or of the One whose mercy underlies 
both life and death. 

Rational beings ought ever to seek for a true 
perspective in their thinking, because only 
thus can they see things in their proper pro- 
portions. A motive mighty enough to revolu- 
tionize individual character and social condi- 
tions will never be found, unless the present 
life is seen against the background of eter- 
nity, and until men think of themselves as 
spirits destined for an endless existence. The 
end of culture is that all things may be seen 
in their proper proportions and relations, 
and that no one shall make the mistake of 
regarding the transient more highly than the 
permanent. To know one's self as a spirit, 
and akin to God, is the end of discipline. He 
who realizes this can never be content with 
animalism, which is from below, or with wealth, 
which cannot endure. The awakening which 
is most needed is one which will fill men with 
a great consciousness that they are spirits, 
[278] 



I^tnurancejj to Spiritual M^ion 

and that every spirit is intended to be a sanc- 
tuary for the Deity. On the Continent of 
Europe are cathedrals which lift their spires 
and pinnacles toward heaven; through their 
windows ineffable splendors pour ; their chap- 
els and altars contain rude suggestions of ever- 
lasting realities ; and through their doors and 
along their aisles in rude disorder move crowds 
of vicious men, curious women, and dirty chil- 
dren. The buildings begin and end in the 
cross, but the throngs within are as heedless 
of the spiritual significance of those chapels, 
altars, ever-burning candles, crucifixes, and 
of that uplifted Christ, as most who live in 
this busy century are of the meaning of 
aspiration, of the feelings of dependence, of 
conscience, of the soul's deepest love, of the 
longing for forgiveness, and of the quench- 
less desire to know what follows death. These 
all point toward God, " the eternal goodness," 
and to the life of growth and peace; but we 
careless men, meanwhile, are thinking of what 
will please the senses, satisfy ambitions, and 
make existence a long and drowsy lethargy. 
[279] 



Ci^e gintoatD Ifgi^t 



Our higher natures are far too often ignored. 
The age needs not emotionalism, denomina- 
tionalism, mere intellectuaHsm, but a deep and 
genuine realization that men are the children 
of God, who is a Spirit ; that they are intended 
for truth and love, and for growth forever 
and forever toward the infinite perfection. 
Thoughts like these ought to inspire even the 
lowest and least intelligent with a passion to 
be what all men were evidently intended to be. 
Then would our complex life be lifted above 
the swamps and miasms of vice and sin into 
that purer ether, and beneath those cloudless 
skies, where the soul may see God, and so begin 
to realize even here somewhat of its immortal 
destiny. 



[280] 



ConUitionjs of ^pititnal ^i^^t 



CHAPTER TWELFTH 



ConDttionjs of ^piritxml ^tgi^t 




HERE is . light in every 
soul; but all souls are not 
able to see. The mystery 
of the Inward Light is 
explicable only on the hy- 
pothesis of the indwelling 
of God. And why some are blind even when 
that light is brightest, is a puzzle to all who 
do not recognize that even those in whom God 
dwells possess a sovereignty of their own. 
The object of this chapter is to show that 
spiritual realities may be discerned by all 
human beings, and that the differences between 
men in this respect are caused not by the 
amount or the clearness of the light possessed, 
but by the varying degrees of willingness to 
conform to the conditions of clear-seeing. 
How does spiritual sight differ from physical 
sight.? It is not the same, yet the one is anal- 
ogous to the other. All light is invisible; it is 
[283] 



Ci^e 31ntDarD JLtgi^t 



the medium in which the objects become vis- 
ible. It is a means, rather than an end. The 
flush on a mountain's cheek, as the dawn ap- 
proaches, is not Hght, but the color of the 
ice or the rock as it appears before the dark- 
ness has entirely gone. The brightness which 
brings a thousand figures into intense and 
vivid relief in a desert at noon is itself visible 
to no one. As the light in which the eye of the 
body sees is itself unseen, so also no one has 
ever seen spiritual objects become physically 
visible. Physical things have physical discern- 
ment, and spiritual truths are apprehended 
only by spiritual eyes. It is written that no 
man can see God and live. That means that 
no one can see Him with the physical organs ; 
many have discerned Him with the eyes of 
their spirits. 

What are the spiritual realities which may be 
detected only by the spirit's eyes.'^ Spirits 
think, love, choose. They have power; but 
they manifest it in thought, volition, affec- 
tion. Truth, duty, aspiration, inspiration, 
belong to beings having their places in the 
[284] 



ConDittonsj of ^vititual ^igl^t 

order of spirits. By spiritual sight one be- 
holds duty, discovers truths, is made to appre- 
ciate the presence of other spirits. There is 
a wide difference between individuals in their 
ability to discern spiritual things. What causes 
the difference? Not the objects seen, for those 
are unaffected by the observer; not the light, 
for that is constant. The difference is in the 
persons trying to see. The conditions of such 
vision are subjective. There is a relation be- 
tween body and spirit, and each affects the 
other; yet our problem has to do chiefly with 
the mind, the will, and the affections. It con- 
cerns the body only so far as the spiritual 
faculties are dependent on the body. What 
is the spiritual sight ? It is the faculty of see- 
ing truth, beauty, righteousness — ^these things 
which proceed from man as a personality 
rather than from man as a being in a physical 
organism or environment; and the Inward 
Light is the medium in which these realities 
are revealed. That there is such a light the 
earlier chapters of this book have shown. Be- 
cause of its presence in the soul, each man is 
[285 ] 



m^z 9Int»atD Ltgi^t 



responsible for his own spiritual condition. 
Unless there is some organic defect in the per- 
sonality, those see who are willing to see, with 
the eyes of the spirit. Yet it must be granted 
that as some are born physically blind, so 
others from birth are spiritually blind. Then, 
of course, responsibility is lacking; but such 
cases are exceptional. 

Those who would have spiritual discernment 
must keep themselves in an intellectual and 
moral condition in which vision will be possible. 
Indeed, it may be said that spiritual vision is 
dependent on the ethical state. 
The Inward Light reveals things as they are. 
It discloses reality. It follows, therefore, that 
willingness to face reality is the primal con- 
dition of spiritual sight. The Inward Light 
covers up no deformities and conceals nothing 
that is untrue. It shows things as they are, 
and not as one may wish to have them. Desire 
and reality are in almost hourly collision. 
Reality means the exact truth. How many are 
ready for the truth concerning themselves, 
their plans, their conduct, their character. 



Contitttonjs of ^pttttual ^tgi^t 

their ideals, their associations, their thoughts, 
their creeds? The tendency toward self-de- 
ception is subtle and constant. Those who are 
really anxious to exploit the truth about others 
are often swift to conceal it when it concerns 
themselves. But the Inward Light is a search- 
ing radiance. In it nothing can be hidden. 
It detects all points of weakness, discovers 
every cherished delusion, and, unmasking 
many a so-called saint, shows that there is 
in him the heart of a tyrant and the temper 
of a fiend. Is one willing even to be con- 
demned because of his passion for reality? 
To him shall the vision be given. Willing- 
ness to face the facts concerning our beliefs, 
desires, ambitions, characters, is a necessity 
laid upon those who would penetrate into the 
inner meaning of things and know the ulti- 
mate truth and duty. A passion for reality 
never fails to be rewarded. It submits to 
humiliation in order that at last it may be 
stronger. The confession of faith of a man 
with such a passion may be very short, but it 
will be explicit and vital. A creed with one 
[287] 



Ci^e 9|ntDatrD Ltgi^t 



doctrine, clearly and strongly expressed, is 
always vital; but a creed with many articles 
about which there is uncertainty is " like 
sounding brass." Is one willing to know the 
truth, however revolutionary it may be? Then 
the process of revelation will begin. Prejudice 
and external authority will be discarded; 
fleshly desires will be suppressed; the body 
will be kept under ; the eyes of the soul will be 
lifted, and will begin to look out of the win- 
dows — if they are clear enough. But there is 
the rub. The mind may be eager to see, yet 
the windows may be dark. The clearest sight 
cannot penetrate a clouded glass. 
A pure mind is a condition of spiritual sight. 
The word " pure " conveys two meanings, both 
of which are important. It signifies moral pur- 
ity and singleness of aim. The latter implies 
freedom from all that might distract, as when 
a man looking at one object is not confused by 
the intrusion of any other object. In this sense 
pure signifies unalloyed, unmixed with foreign 
substances. " Moral purity " is a phrase that 
has a definite significance. " Blessed are the 
[288] 



Contiittonjs of ^pivitual ^igl^t 

pure in heart, for they shall see Grod " ; which, 
being interpreted means. Blessed are those 
whose thoughts are free from the fascinations 
of the flesh. The spiritual quest is not for 
those whose minds are full of impure images, 
and whose senses bum with unhallowed pas- 
sion. Such persons do not wish to see the truth, 
because with them the proportion of things 
is distorted; they are fascinated by physical 
desire as a bird may be fascinated by a snake. 
Impurity quickly monopolizes the mind and 
clouds the eyes of the spirit. Sensuality is 
baleful because it deadens the faculties and 
weakens the mental processes. When volup- 
tuous features and siren forms are clamoring 
for recognition, when insidious suggestions 
are knocking at the doors of the will, the 
modest and peaceful faces of virtue and truth 
receive scant attention. Perfect moral purity 
is a condition of a clear vision of truth and 
duty, but, alas ! what a condition ! with the 
vestiges of the animal nature still clinging to 
us, ana the enticements of a tempting environ- 
ment on every side. Nevertheless, whatever 
[289] 



Ci^e 31ntpatD Ltgl^t 



the attraction, the windows through which the 
spirit looks must be kept free from taint, if 
the vision is to be unimpaired. Sir Galahad, 
the stainless youth, was the only one of 
Arthur's knights who saw the Holy Grail; 
and the Apostle James has said that pure 
religion, in large part, consists in keeping 
one's self unspotted from the world. He who 
has been stupefied by the " wine of the sense " 
requires no description. His lecherous eye, 
sodden face, and rotten voice are too well 
known. He comes perilously near being a body 
with a dead soul. Of such men the world sees 
fewer every year. Sometime they will be only 
a memory ; while the clear vision of him whose 
prayer, " Create within me a clean heart," 
has been answered, will forever remain an 
organ of knowledge, a source of prophecy, 
and a fountain of holy character. 
A loving heart is a condition of spiritual sight. 
Tennyson has expressed a profound truth in 
these lines from " In Memoriam " : 

'^ In vain shall thou, or any, call 

The spirits from their golden day^ 
[290] ' 



ConDittonjcJ of ^pititual ^is^t 

Except, like them, thou too canst say^ 
My spirit is at peace with all. 

" They haunt the silence of the breast, 
Imaginations calm and fair, 
The memory like a cloudless air. 
The conscience as a sea at rest ; 

" But when the heart is full of din, 
And doubt beside the portal waits, 
They can but listen at the gates, 
And hear the household jar within,^ ^ 

— Canto xclv. 

Bitterness and enmity darken the mind and 
harden the will. The intellect is not the only 
organ of spiritual vision. Some objects are 
discernible only by the heart. A mother's love 
will detect that in her child to which all other 
persons are blind. A woman, through the very 
simplicity and innocence of her affection, will 
often predict in her unconscious thought the 
possibilities of the man to whom she is devoted. 
Love may be an organ of knowledge, " Only 
the good discerns the good " (Mrs. Browning, 
" De Profundis"), and only love discerns 
love. 

[291] 



Cl^e 3Int»arD JLtgl^t 



" My spirit is at peace with all " — that 
means, in loving relations with all. Selfishness 
monopolizes the powers and faculties, and en- 
mity crowds out the finer feelings. If one hate 
his fellow men, he will dwell upon his hatred 
day and night; it will make him suspicious, 
unjust, ungenerous, and there will be left 
none of the inward peace essential to spiritual 
discernment. An unloving man does not be- 
lieve in love. If he fail to detect it in man, he 
will not find it in God. If he will not forgive 
his enemy, he will not even ask whether God 
will forgive him. God is love. How can one who 
hates, appreciate Infinite love? The profound- 
est of spiritual truths is the following: The 
universe is pervaded by love ; its forces are in 
the leashes of love ; the winds blow, the light- 
nings flash, the tides move, the seasons alter- 
nate in obedience to love like that in human 
hearts, but vaster. This fact only loving 
hearts can appreciate. Hate is blind to the 
glories of this high realm. Christianity is the 
spiritual interpretation of the universe, and 
its every syllable spells Love with great cap- 
[292] 



ConDttiott0 of spiritual ^i^^t 

itals. Our heavenly Father, our Saviour, the 
Cross, the spiritual leadership, the golden rule, 
the new commandment, the immortal life, 
these are but phrases which bend and stagger 
under a burden of unutterable love. " He 
that loveth not his brother whom he hath 
seen, cannot love God whom he hath not 
seen." (I John, iv, 20.) The vision of the 
humble man whose heart, at peace with all, 
thrills with love, penetrates farther into the 
eternal mysteries than the clearer mental eye 
of the selfish philosopher. Who shall tell us 
the most about God.'^ Those who have learned 
most about love. The only way to learn this 
lesson is by loving. The Inward Light shines 
with morning brightness in the soul of him 
whose spirit is at peace with all." 
Tennyson, in this passage, has suggested an- 
other truth which is equally fundamental: 

" The memory like a cloudless air, 
The conscience as a sea at resV^ 

He who would have a clear spiritual vision 

has need to be in right relations with others ; 

[293] 



m^t gintjjatD ygi^t 



and he must be also at peace with himself; 
he must dare to look into his own heart and 
" tumble up and down what he finds there." 
The man whose conscience is perturbed and 
whose memory is full of salacious secrets is 
self-centred. He has neither time nor inclina- 
tion for either the outward or the upward 
look. A burdened conscience is a tyrant. He 
who would clearly see with the spiritual eye 
must be in a state of inward equipoise. Har- 
mony and calm are indispensable. He who has 
to deal with a troublesome conscience has time 
for nothing else. He who tries to make himself 
believe that a lie is the truth, and that what 
he knows to be wrong is right, has a hard task. 
He finds a second sin necessary to cover up the 
first, and that adds to the anxiety and dis- 
turbance. Under such circumstances the at- 
tempt to discover spiritual realities is like 
trying to make calculations from the stars 
when the horizon is full of clouds. 
But reverse the process. Let all that is foul be 
banished from the memory; let every act of 
wrong that ought to be confessed be confessed 
[294] 



ConDitionjs of ^pintual ^iw*^ 

to the one to whom confession is due ; let con- 
science be faced and its demands granted. The 
change will be like that which follows when a 
mountain wind blows over a humid landscape. 
Objects formerly indistinct or hidden will stand 
out in clear relief. Light is waiting to break 
into all dark souls. What needs to be done in 
order that they may see ? Let one converse with 
himself somewhat as follows: Have I injured 
anyone.?* Then I will make acknowledgment 
so far as is wise, and reparation so far as is 
possible. Am I following an evil course, or 
clinging to an evil habit ? Is there anything in 
my conduct about which I am doubtful, and 
which is not essential to my welfare ? Then I 
will put that away also. Am I getting profit 
or pleasure at the expense of the best inter- 
ests of any other human being? At any cost, 
I will give up that profit and that pleasure. 
Once and for all time I am resolved that I will 
be right, whatever the sacrifice and whatever 
the effort required. If, after such a course has 
been pursued, all of truth that is needed is 
not evident, it will be because of something 
[295] 



L. 



Ci^e Slntoaru JLtgi^t 



unfavorable in the environment, or of some 
defect in the personaUty, for which the man 
himself is not responsible. 
Not all who conform to these conditions will 
have spiritual illumination, for many times 
a diseased or an overworked body makes ex- 
istence a burden and vision an impossibility. 
Not a few have been too tired to know or care 
what they might see, or whether they could 
see at all. Such persons are in good hands 
and will not be judged unkindly. The Judge 
of all the earth will do right. 
I have not meant to intimate that those who 
observe these conditions will be able to accept 
in their totality, or even in large proportion, 
the doctrines of any of the creeds. The creeds 
all have something that is true. It is that ele- 
ment of reality which has Won for them 
acceptance in spite of the error which they 
contain. They are condensed statements of 
truths of which many souls with widely dif- 
fering experiences have had glimpses. No 
one beholds truth or right in their fulness, but 
each one may have all the certainty which he 
[ 296 ] 



ConDittonjS of ^pititual ^tgl^t 

needs ; he will have light enough to discern the 
path in which he ought to walk. This is all 
any need to know. Shall we not go one step 
further, and confess our faith that if a per- 
son observing these conditions still has no clear 
vision of what is essential to righteous con- 
duct and holy character, it is because the gra- 
cious Providence, on whom we are all depend- 
ent, has some other and better things in store 
for him.? Each man should remove the ob- 
stacles in his own personality which obstruct 
the light, and then be faithful to whatever 
vision may be graciously granted him. It is 
the prerogative of none to pass judgment on 
what the Inward Light discloses to their fel- 
low men. Use of the light already possessed 
is a condition of more light, and ampler illu- 
mination is the sure possession of all who are 
loyal to what is already known of truth and 
duty. The continued use of powers and facul- 
ties develop them. Muscles are hardened by 
exercise. A sailor on the lookout signals " A 
ship ahead ! " He has caught a glimpse of a 
white canvas far away in the driving mist and 
[2971 



Ci^e gintoarD ligl^t 



blinding rain. In the meantime the landsman 
on board has seen nothing. The light is the 
same for both. One has vision, because he has 
cultivated the habit of seeing. Those who 
would see spiritual things should cultivate 
the habit of seeing; and nothing is simpler. 
Use the light of to-day ; to-morrow the light 
will be the same, but the eyes will be stronger 
and the vision clearer. 

One has a firm conviction of the reality of 
the Deity. " Nearer is he than breathing, 
and closer than hands and feet." Why do some 
have this vision, while it is denied to others? 
Because they use the light which they have 
by nature, and thus quickly come to have more 
light given to them. Others, because their fac- 
ulties are blurred, insist that in all the infinities 
there are no beings more exalted than they 
have already discovered. From such persons 
is taken away even the light which they had. 
He will learn most of the Unseen, and of his 
daily duty, who has best used the powers 
which are his by nature. Knowledge of ele- 
mental subjects cannot be condensed into 
[298] 



CouDitionjsj of ^pttitwal ^(gl^t 

propositions and written in books ; it must be 
expressed in terms of life; and life can be 
interpreted only by life. Experiment at this 
point is not difficult. The horizon of life is 
all dark ; duty is a dream ; hope is dead ; even 
love seems to be a fiction. " Wherefore were 
we born?" "Let us eat and drink, for to- 
morrow we die." With some minds these dole- 
ful convictions are constant and apparently 
ineradicable. But suppose that we test their 
value in the following way : An evil habit has 
been clung to because it has given pleasure; 
it has troubled the conscience, but been con- 
tinued. Let that habit be given up. What is 
the result.? A quiet thrill of satisfaction, like 
the memory of long-forgotten music, creeps 
into the heart. A little progress has been made, 
only a little. " There is no love anywhere 
except in ourselves." Instead of emphasizing 
" no love," let this misanthropic man begin 
to serve some fellow-creature. Even a little dog 
will sometimes strangely brighten a human 
experience. Give love to a waif, to a friend, 
to a relative, and ask no return ; and if you 
[299] 



ci^e Sltttuatn itgi^t 



have none of these, give it to a horse or a dog. 
He who loves, will find that love will open 
another window in the soul. Someone has 
done you a great injury and deserves nothing. 
Go to him, and say : " At the best, things are 
bad enough in this world, and I, for one, am 
unwilling to make them worse. However you 
may feel toward me, whether you care or not, 
henceforward I shall treat you as my friend." 
The result will be like the coming of the 
morning to at least two persons. The light in 
every man's soul will shine around truth and 
duty when the shades are lifted and the win- 
dows are thrown open. The faculty for seeing 
increases with use, until he who has long felt 
as if he were at the very heart of an infinite 
mystery, suddenly discerns that he has all the 
light that he needs. Thus he comes at length 
to find that duty is no dream, that hope is 
not dead, and that love is the most enduring 
reality in the universe. 

Is the effort for the realization of these condi- 
tions worth while? " The things which are not 
seen are eternal." The enduring realities are 
[ 300 ] 



ConHitionjtJ of Spiritual ^tgi^t 

spiritual; the powers which rule this world, 
and which lead in the cosmic process, like truth, 
right, love, are spiritual. Everything else is 
either a burden, or may take wings and fly 
away. A rich man may provide for himself 
a sumptuous feast, but Thoreau once said 
that he had dined upon an apple and was 
satisfied. Riches are not essential either to 
comfort or to happiness, even in this life ; and 
they cannot evade death. Fame seems the 
most evanescent of baubles. The other day a 
man died who a few years ago was one of the 
most eminent citizens of the Republic, and the 
newspapers, amid accounts of prize-fights, 
first nights at theatres, and society functions, 
grudgingly gave him hardly an inch of their 
space. Such is fame. But truth, beauty, love, 
these endure, and grow fairer and fuller with 
the years. Happy only are those who have 
fastened their ambitions to ideals which cannot 
fade. Emerson's epigram, " Hitch your wagon 
to a star," has passed into the world's prov- 
erbs. In less ambiguous phrase Paul said, 
" Fix your affections on things above." Even 
[301] 



m^t fntwatd Itgl^t 



this, however, is not perfectly clear, for who 
shall tell us what "the things above" are? 
Jesus, in words which no one can misunder- 
stand, although the fulness of their meaning 
may not be easily grasped, lifted a matchless 
ideal in this beatitude : " Blessed are the pure 
in heart, for they shall see God." He might 
have added, if He had chosen, " And they 
shall see all other things of which they have 
any need to know." The pathway of duty shall 
be open before them ; the reality of love shall 
not be doubted by them ; and they shall catch 
dim but steadily increasing glimpses of the 
spheral truth that the round world, and the 
whole created universe, are forever under the 
guidance of One who was truly revealed in 
Jesus Christ. The foregleams of this beatific 
vision are the glad possession of all who have 
ceased to do evil and begun to do well. 



[302] 



C^e Conttnuoujj ttahm^ip of 



CHAPTER THIRTEENTH 

Cl^e Continuous jteaDetjsi^tp of 
tl^e i^olt Spirit 




HERE are two ways of 
studying history : one is to 
read it as if its events were 
disconnected; the other is 
to consider those events in 
their relations. To the su- 
perficial student it is a series of unrelated 
occurrences, but he who looks deeper finds that 
those occurrences are bound together, and that 
the world is what it is to-day because of what 
men and institutions were in other times. His- 
tory is a record chiefly of the action of hidden 
forces. Because of them it possesses unity and 
coherence. From earliest times it has moved 
toward a definite end. Whenever it began, it 
started like an arrow for its far-away goal. 
Often has it seemed as if within the stream 
of progress there was no order ; but sooner or 
[305] 



m^t 3Intx)atli itgi^t 



later, though there have been many eddies in 
its current, the river has returned to its true 
channel and moved more swiftly onward. 
" Nothing walks with aimless feet." Even 
those forces and personalities that seem most 
divergent and hostile cooperate in promoting 
the common welfare. From its infancy the 
race has steadily pressed toward the moral 
perfection of its individuals, and toward har- 
mony among all its members. There have been, 
and there still are, prophets of degeneration. 
Von Hartmann declared that this is the worst 
possible universe ; but such sentiments usually 
indicate morbid temperaments or unfortunate 
experiences. Philosophers and scientists of the 
highest rank, poets who are also seers, and 
most of all those who study history by cen- 
turies, are seldom pessimists. With the recog- 
nition of evolution as the mode of the Divine 
procedure, the number of persons who discern 
the unity of history and the sure victory of 
righteousness has distinctly increased. 
The converging lines of human progress are 
an interesting study. 

[306] 



ConttnuottjJ leauetjsii^tp 

There has been a gradual amelioration of the 
human condition. In the childhood of the race 
men were either savage or weak. Our ancestors 
once dwelt in huts, roamed the forests and 
lived like animals. The tribe acknowledged the 
supremacy of the chief or strong man. Force 
was the rule; greed was the method; institu- 
tions had no existence. In time the hut gave 
place to the home ; the family became sacred ; 
force was succeeded by the rule of intelligence ; 
cooperation, in a measure, supplanted compe- 
tition. Now, laws have been not only enacted, 
but also humanized; penalties have been 
minimized, and strife, which in early days was 
universal, has become the exception. Formerly, 
nations were as swift to fight as angry dogs ; 
now, war is the last resort. The Rhine castles 
help us to measure the rate of the world's 
advancement. They are no longer scenes of 
bloodshed, but curiosities which remind tour- 
ists of an age forever gone. There is ever- 
growing brightness in all the human horizon. 
Lines of growth are slowly converging toward 
the perfection of the individual and the real- 
[307] 



ci^e 3!ntx)atn itgi^t 



ization of brotherhood. This fact needs ex- 
planation ; and there is no explanation except 
that which finds intelligence and love in his- 
tory — in other words, a Divine Personality. 
Religion is in the midst of a process of human- 
ization and of spiritualization. The earliest 
form of religion was the worship of things; 
not because they were things, but because the 
worshipper found in them qualities which he 
did not find in himself. He knew his own life 
to be transient; he sought something that 
would not pass away; therefore he bowed 
before rocks and mountains. The next step was 
adoration of the heavenly bodies, because they 
were both splendid and enduring. Fire-wor- 
shippers were on a higher level than fetich- 
worshippers. Then came polytheism, an ad- 
umbration of the immanence of God. Who 
can fail to sympathize with the Greeks, who 
believed that waters and woods, oceans and 
forests, were peopled with deities.? To their 
eyes the mountains had voices, the rivers broke 
into music, and the winds were echoes of 
divine harmonies. 

[308] 



€ontimxom JLeaDetisi^tp 

Another advance was in the direction of 
ethical and spiritual development, ^he old- 
est religious books presented God as the Pa- 
tron of a tribe or of a nation. The Father 
Almighty was a conception too vast for prim- 
itive times. But the narrower view was a prep- 
aration for the broader. The protector of the 
clan became the guardian of the nation, and 
later the ruler of the world. A worthy concep- 
tion of the Deity waited for sach knowledge 
of the material universe as was possible only 
after geology had read the records written in 
the rocks, and astronomy had explored the 
spaces. Science at last has made it possible to 
think of the Almighty as a Being august, 
glorious, and worthy of worship. 
With the expansion of the idea of God has 
grown the idea of Revelation. At first the 
will of the Deity was supposed to have been 
revealed to a chosen few in one nation; later 
it was thought to have been made known to 
elect souls in various parts of the world ; but 
in these days the truth has dawned that the 
sacred vision may be expected wherever there 
[309] 



Cl^e 3Int»at:D iLtgl^t 



are pure hearts and obedient wills. To-day, 
in every land, many are listening for Divine 
voices and looking for Divine manifestations ; 
and some are even daring to believe that God 
is speaking now in accents as clear as those 
in which He spoke to the Hebrew lawgiver 
and prophets. Revelation is not merely an 
eternal possibility, but an eternal necessity ; it 
can be limited to no race, no time, no condi- 
tion, and to no phase of faith. " No accent 
of the Holy Ghost is ever lost." This newer 
religious teaching does not antagonize that of 
the past ; it rather supplements it. Jesus came 
to fulfil, and the work of giving more adequate 
expression to truth will go on forever. The 
universe, with its immensities and its forces, 
and history, with its growth toward holiness 
and blessedness, are manifestations of the 
Divine which all who will may read. We be- 
hold no longer a few sibyls and seers, but a 
great company of pure souls, who in the 
splendor of sunsets, in the glory of the mid- 
night heavens, and most of all in the soul of 
man, are reading a mystic language of love 
[310] 



Continuous leaDerjsi^ip 

and truth and power. The old printed Book 
is not less venerated because it is now believed 
to be only that part of the universal Bible 
which has been put into human language, 
while outside and beyond the printed page is 
the larger Bible, which yet may be found to 
contain truths of which even prophets and 
apostles never dreamed. 

Why do all things in human life and institu- 
tions press so steadily toward love among in- 
dividuals and harmony in society ? How has it 
happened that the minds of common men have 
been lifted to adore the Being who created 
the heavens and the earth ? What has widened 
the conception of revelation from special mes- 
sages to a favored few, to communion with 
the pure and good of every land and time.^ 
The conception of salvation also has been en- 
larged. At last it has escaped from the 
mechanical interpretation put upon it by those 
who thought of the Divine order always in 
terms of human government. In a former age 
salvation meant release from well-deserved 
punishment by some scheme which justified 
[311] 



Ci^e gintoarD JLtgi^t 



the government, at the same time that it par- 
doned the sinner. Now it is regarded in its 
profoundest sense, as dehverance from the 
desire to do wrong ; as the reversal even of the 
stream of heredity — a real new birth. And who 
shall describe the change of opinion in regard 
to the results of wrong-doing? An increasing 
number no longer regard punishment as suf- 
fering inflicted by an angry monarch anxious 
that his dignity should be vindicated or his 
laws honored. On the other hand, we are 
learning that remedial agencies are planted 
deep in the nature of things ; that the universe 
is on the side of all who are trying ^o rise ; 
and that the very pains of retribution, which 
are and ought to be endless, are ordained to 
bring wrong-doers to a better mind. 
In these changes in theological thought there 
is growth, never contradiction. The spirit 
which bowed before the fetich will more 
gladly worship the heavenly Father when 
once He is discerned. Earlier revelations are 
not invalidated, but rather verified, by the 
later ones, and salvation from penalty is 
[312] 



ContinuoujS JLeaDerjsji^ip 

merged in the more radical and vital doctrine 
of salvation Irom sin. 

What has wrought such transformations in 
ideals, institutions, interpretations of truth? 
Shall we say that they are the result of evo- 
lution? That will depend on definitions. If 
from our conception of evolution we exclude 
the spiritual factor, the answer will be inade- 
quate ; but if we believe that the power which 
impels evolution is the Spirit of God, then 
the reply may easily be accepted. Is the prog- 
ress of the world in the direction of spiritual 
ideals to be ascribed to the action of mere 
force? Then we shall have to explain why and 
how darkness always opens into light, and 
why and how that which is unintelligent, and 
without love, has pressed steadily toward in- 
telligence, harmony, and brotherhood. But it 
may be said that the universe is spiritual, and 
that evolution is the movement of a spiritual 
body along its inevitable way. We must reply. 
If the race has always moved along spiritual 
lines toward a goal so nearly divine, then 
we must assume that the power which is impel- 
[313] 



Cl^e antoatD tiqj^t 



ling, or the attraction which is drawing, is 
God the Spirit. The only hypothesis which at 
all explains the historic process is that of the 
presence and power of the Spirit. Who knows 
but that He may be the essence of gravita- 
tion.?^ Who knows but that, in the last analy- 
sis, gravitation and love may be found to be 
identical, the one binding individuals into har- 
mony, the other holding the constellations in 
their orbits ? At least we may be sure that He 
who created the heavens and the earth has 
never forsaken them, and that evolution is the 
cosmic tide sweeping over the universe and 
down the ages in response to Divine attrac- 
tions. 

We are now face to face with a sublime fact. 
The Spirit of God is a constant factor in 
history. He has always led the procession of 
humanity. He is the Fountain of inspiration, 
the Revealer of truth, the Cause of prog- 
ress. History is the record of the Spirit real- 
izing Himself in human life and institutions. 
If this faith is well founded. What may be 
expected in the future.? There may yet be 
[314] 



Continuoujsi ttanw^ip 

expansions of knowledge of which the most 
sanguine have never dared to dream; other 
inspired men may be expected; then such 
visions as ancient seers were not adequate to 
receive may yet be disclosed; and the future 
may show such consecration and heroism, 
such whiteness of soul and such splendor of 
sacrifice, as were unknown even in the most 
heroic ages. Literature is the expression of 
spirit; therefore, as the spirits of men be- 
come more harmonious with the Divine, lit- 
erature will be richer and more evidently in- 
spired. The presence of the Spirit is the 
prophecy of a time when nations, laws, society, 
institutions, will become Christian; when sel- 
fishness will no longer dominate the social 
order; when impurity will no longer either 
cloud the intellect or corrupt the heart ; when 
strife and war will cease, and peace and love 
prevail. 

What should be our attitude in the presence 
of such august anticipations.'* 
A mountain tends to make a man humble ; so 
does an elemental truth. Let us bow our heads, 
[315] 



Clfte 3!«tDat:D Itgi^t 



as did Isaiah when the glory of Jehovah filled 
the temple. We have thought of God as be- 
yond the stars, but He is nigh us, even in our 
hearts. We have thought of Him as speak- 
ing to prophets and apostles, but now we 
know that He speaks quite as distinctly to 
us. We have thought of Him as in the 
council at Jerusalem; let us now think of 
Him as in the assemblies of waiting souls in 
modern days. 

Who can predict at what hour some new and 
marvelous spiritual disclosure may be given 
to the world? " God is about us in our in- 
fancy," and through all our days. Moses 
heard One speaking from the bush; Elijah 
at Horeb caught the accents of a still small 
voice; Isaiah, in the year that Uzziah died, 
saw the Lord ; Saul was surprised on an errand 
of honest but mistaken cruelty ; John, sitting 
by the sunset sea, and turning his eyes toward 
Ephesus, heard a sound like that of many 
waters; Luther, in the monastery, learned 
that the just shall live by faith; Galileo, 
looking into the heavens, saw that the earth 
[316] 



Contfnuoujs iLeaDetjsi^ip 

was moving; Sir Isaac Newton, in the falling 
of an apple, caught a glimpse of an elemental 
law; James Watt, in the rising steam, de- 
tected one of the deep mysteries of the uni- 
verse ; Morse, by study or by accident, found 
that language might be made to pass along 
common wires; Marconi discovered that the 
currents of the air might be made to thrill 
with human speech; and still the surprises 
multiply, and still the mystery by which we 
are environed seems to deepen. Because the 
Spirit belongs to every land and time, equally 
marvellous revelations may be expected to 
come to waiting souls in all ages. Jesus will 
never be surpassed because He teaches that 
no one should be satisfied with less than truth 
and right and love ; but what shall yet be dis- 
closed concerning God and the universe no one 
can anticipate. Henceforward nothing that is 
lofty and good will seem incredible. 
God will manifest Himself in His own way 
and with increasing clearness as the years go 
by. No door or window should be closed. In 
the reverent consciousness that He besets us 
[317] 



Cl^e SlntoatD Ligi^t 



behind and before, we should endeavor to be 
ready for the Spirit's voice whenever the 
Spirit shall speak. Every church and every 
place of human assembly should be a Pente- 
costal chamber. 

The development of history has been in the 
direction of the spiritualization both of men 
and of institutions. Along craggy and often 
bloody pathways the race has moved, but 
those pathways have always opened upward. 
We seek an explanation of these mysterious 
and hopeful movements and prophecies. " They 
are the efflorescence of the cosmic process." 
If by that be meant that they are the result 
of mere force, then we must turn elsewhere 
for an answer. Jesus gave His disciples a far 
more satisfying explanation. He said that His 
followers would be under the guidance of the 
Spirit of truth, who would lead them into all 
truth and show things to come. The Spirit of 
Truth was with the fathers ; He is with their 
children; and He will lead the race until all 
its members shall have reached the fulness of 
Christ, 

[318] 



Continuouji JLeaDerjsi^tp 

This study of the continuous leadership leads 
to several important conclusions. 
The seat of authority in religion is where the 
Puritans have always insisted it was to be 
found — in the spirit of man illuminated by 
the Spirit of God. I have spoken of this sub- 
ject at length in an earlier chapter. The ulti- 
mate authority is within. The Church is not 
final unless it clearly expresses the Divine will, 
and each individual must decide for him- 
self whether it does so. The Bible is regarded 
as the Word of God because it meets this 
spiritual test. The creeds command assent so 
far as they correspond with the ideals of truth 
which belong in every man. There is no escape 
from this position. It is not " rationalism " ; 
it is recognition of our dependence on the 
Spirit promised by Jesus. Puritanism began 
by affirming that every man may come into 
the immediate presence of the Almighty, and 
that God alone is Lord of the intellect and the 
conscience. Puritanism had a rational basis. 
What is true? You will find your answer only 
in that silence where the Spirit of God bears 
[319] 



Ci^e 31nt»arD itgi^t 



witness with your own spirit. To that bar the 
creeds, the Church, the customs of the time, 
and even the Bible itself, always must be 
brought. All that shines true in that Inward 
Light will endure; all else will perish. The 
court of final appeal is to the God who dwells 
within every man; who speaks in every soul; 
whose judgments, if they were heeded, would 
leave no one in doubt as to the truth needed 
or the duty required. There is need for pecul- 
iar emphasis on this message now. Men are 
asked to accept teaching which violates reason 
and their moral sense. Many who wish to be 
loyal to truth do not altogether believe the 
creeds to which they are asked to subscribe. 
They know themselves to be religious, and they 
need the help of the Church. Shall they be 
excluded, and told that they are false to God 
because they are true to themselves? Rather 
let us say that no one who is true to himself 
can be false to God ; let us insist on the duty 
,of loyalty to the Inward Light ; let us affirm, 
what most of us believe, that in the last analy- 
sis, each man, after having submitted him- 
[320] 



Continuoujs leaDerjii^ip 

self to Divine guidance, must decide for him- 
self what is true and what is right. Is this 
saying that each man must be a law unto 
himself ? It is teaching rather that the Divine 
life in humanity will manifest itself through 
each man's individuality; and that the God 
who reveals Himself through the consecrat- 
ed scholarship and holy endeavors of men 
of the twentieth century of the Christian 
era is the same who spoke in the silence to 
Elijah. 

The continuous leadership of the Spirit neces- 
sitates frequent changes in creedal statements. 
It shows that the idea of a creed as a finality 
is absurd. A creed is a statement of what a 
body of Christians believe at a certain time. 
Few men at the age of seventy would state 
their beliefs in the same terms in which they 
stated them at twenty. As the faith-formulas 
of individuals change, so must those of the 
churches change. Creeds ought to be adjusted 
to the governing thought of the age. For 
centuries after Christ theological thinking 
was in the terms of Roman law, but now it is 
[ 321 ] 



C]^e 3lntDatt» ligi^t 



in terms of life. Natural law was regarded 
formerly as an arbitrary command, with a 
penalty attached to it; the phrase now sug- 
gests the observed order of vital movement. 
Salvation, which formerly implied escape 
from penalty for breaking a statute, is now 
relief from the evil consequences which follow 
a violation of nature. The ideas are not con- 
tradictory, but they are different. In our day 
men think of God as pervading the universe, 
but in the time in which the early creeds were 
written the conception of the " universe " 
scarcely existed. Why do so many ministers 
continue to preach in terms of statute law, 
while the more intelligent of their hearers are 
thinking in terms of life.? The Spirit of God 
inspires the scientist, and the scientist's dis- 
coveries modify theological thinking. If we 
must have formulas of faith, let them be writ- 
ten in intelligible language. If this were done 
now, nearly all of our present denominations 
would cease to be, inasmuch as they are largely 
survivals of controversies which could not 
arise to-day. The creeds of a hundred years 
[322] 



Continuous JLeaDerjsi^ip 

ago are not the creeds really held by modem 
denominations. Who shall put into reverent 
words the beliefs of our most spiritual men? 
Who shall write the new creed? It ought to 
be written. Without trying adequately to 
formulate it, I venture to enumerate the fol- 
lowing as a few of the truths which it should 
contain : 

A Person pervades and transcends the uni- 
verse; He may be interpreted in terms of 
Fatherhood ; He is truly revealed in Jesus, the 
Christ; history is the progressive realization 
of the Divine ideal for humanity; God's will 
for man may be found in every human soul, 
and all should dare to read and trust what is 
written there; happiness and blessing follow 
obedience to the law of God, and misery its 
disobedience; death is but a change in the 
mode of existence ; sometime all men, by God's 
unmerited grace, will reach the stature of the 
fulness of Christ; the kingdom of God will 
fill the earth. Along some such lines as these, 
it seems to me, the creed for to-day should be 
written, but no man can tell the terms or the 
[323] 



Ci^e gintDarD Uqfyt 



language in which it should be formulated 
to-morrow. 

But there is one article in the creed of the 
ages which will require little change in the 
future; that article is this: I believe m the 
continuous leadership of the Spirit of 
God. 

The leadership of the Spirit brings into clear 
relief the sin of a divided Christendom. Dif- 
ferences concerning doctrine ought not to 
separate Christians into rival camps. The 
things which should unite are more important 
than those which divide. The Church will 
always be composed of individuals with dis- 
tinguishing characteristics. If Church union 
implied that all should be required to accept 
the same creed, or to worship according to the 
same rubrics, it would be both impossible and 
undesirable. Creeds and liturgies will always 
differ as men differ. But such differences do 
not prevent Calvinists and Arminians, liberals 
and conservatives, Baptists and Quakers, or- 
thodox and heterodox, from working together 
in the civil state, and they ought not to do 
[ 324 ] 



Continuous ttanmi^iv 

so in the Church. The one is no holier than the 
other. 

Growth toward unity is evident. 
In spite of herself, Rome is slowly becoming 
democratic and liberal, and thus partly closing 
the gulf between herself and Protestantism. 
The Evangelical Free churches of Great 
Britain move together for the objects which 
they have in common. 

The Free Church and the United Presbyterian 
Churches of Scotland have already become 
one. 

The conscience of American Presbyterianism 
is being pricked by the Zeitgeist, which is the 
Spirit of God, and by a process as sure as 
gravitation the many varieties of Christians 
holding the Westminster standards are draw- 
ing together. 

The various forms of episcopacy are moving 
toward something; no living man can tell 
whether it be absorption with Rome or toward 
Congregational democracy. 
The Methodists, Congregationahsts, and Pres- 
byterians of Canada are closing ranks, and a 
[325] 



Ci^e 9|ttt»jarD ygiftt 



similar movement is visible in Australia and 
Japan. 

The " Pilgrim " churches, dissatisfied with 
an unnecessary degree of independency, are 
reaching sympathetic hands toward those who, 
with them, hunger for spiritual unity. 
This movement will surely broaden, deepen, 
and expand. 

Under the leadership of the Spirit a new and 
nobler conception of the State is appearing. 
Force and greed, organized to perpetuate 
themselves, are slowly giving way before the 
whole people working together for the common 
weal. The State is not a mere social compact ; 
it is rather a product of the Divine life in 
humanity. The Church has been called a 
" Society of Saviours." The phrase should be 
equally applicable to the State. The mission 
of one is as truly redemptive as that of the 
other. This truth is rising like a new dawn on 
the horizon of history. 

In spite of the social and political ostracism 

of a race which includes men not unworthy of 

the names of Washington and Lincoln; of a 

[326] 



Continuous leaDetiSi^tp 

race whose sons have fought and died to per- 
petuate the American Repubhc; in the face 
of lynching defended, of fraud gloried in, and 
of the practical denial that God is immanent 
in the oppressed and the weak, it is not easy 
to believe that the State is becoming more 
humane. But the end is not yet. The stream of 
history has not turned backward. At least a 
few are beginning to feel the everlasting con- 
tradiction between the Spirit of Jesus and 
race prejudice. A growing number are stand- 
ing for the higher ideals of the State. They 
know that to discriminate against any people 
because of their color is neither wise politics 
nor decent religion. Those who in the Inward 
Light have learned the sanctity and the glory 
of individual liberty, in the Church of Christ 
will not soon consent to any kind of slavery 
in the nation or in the world. 
The Spirit of God is moving also among 
the nations, and is teaching that the State 
which does not regard itself as the servant' of 
mankind is already doomed. The war in Man- 
churia was a temporary reversal to barbarism, 
[327] 



Cl^e 3I«t»at:t> Itgl^t 



but it is not so significant as The Hague Tri- 
bunal, which will yet be the Supreme Court 
of the world. No nation wants war. The world 
is nearer to the ideals of peace than ever be- 
fore. It is our privilege to preach the doctrine 
of the kingdom of God, or the larger nation, 
whose realization will make war impossible. 
Turner's picture of " The Battle of Water- 
loo " is prophetic. The landscape is lurid ; the 
dead and dying lie in heaps; houses are in 
flames ; smoke and blood fill the air or wet the 
ground; but high in the clouds and slowly 
dissipating them, clothed in a garment white 
and luminous, the Christ is approaching ; and 
above all the bloody rivers and lurid clouds 
of war, above the oppressions of humanity in 
many semi-barbaric lands, right through the 
revolution which impends in all autocracies, 
the Christ is still coming, and with Him bring- 
ing the unity of the world and the day of 
universal peace. 

The continuous leadership of the Spirit is the 

prophecy and pledge of the evangelization of 

the world. Heathenism dies slowly. Reversals 

[328] 



Continuoujsi lLeaDet:?ii^ip 

toward paganism have been frequent, but 
when the tide of progress has ebbed it has been 
only to sweep higher. The corruption of cities 
is depressing ; the remainders of barbarism are 
appalling; but no one familiar with the past 
can doubt what the issue will be. From the 
day when Jesus said, " Feed my sheep," the 
Gospel has found a host of heroic souls glad 
to be its messengers. The world will be evan- 
geUzed. No living man can tell what phase 
of truth will predominate, and no living man 
need care. Orientals will not become Occiden- 
tals in religion any more than in the color of 
their faces ; but the religion which exalts and 
trusts the Inward Light; the religion of the 
love and compassion of God, which teaches 
love and compassion to man, and which re- 
veals at the end of the cosmic process a holy 
humanity realizing itself in the fulness of 
Christ — ^this will never be surpassed. To that 
consummation, according to their racial char- 
acteristics, all men must sometime come. Ele- 
mental forces are behind it, and it cannot be 
defeated. The only question concerns what 
[329] 



C]^e antoatD ligi^t 



part individuals, churches, nations are to have 
in the glory of that " far-off, divine event." 
The continuous leadership of the Spirit of 
Truth, or the light of God in the soul of man, 
is coming into clearer recognition as our 
knowledge of the universe increases and our 
experience of God deepens. That leadership 
was seen in the prophets and apostles, in the 
heroes of the Protestant, of the Puritan, and 
of the Evangelical reformations, and in the 
migrations of the Pilgrims who founded on 
these shores a free Church and a free State. 
To that indwelling Spirit in all the coming 
years men may fearlessly commit themselves 
and commend their work. He who was with 
the disciples will not forsake their successors 
of this or of any future time. 

'^ I fear no more. The clouded face 

Of nature smiles; through all her things 
Of time and space and sense I trace 
The moving of the Spirifs wings, 
And hear the song of hope she sings.'' 



[330] 



I^erjsionaliti? a ^^ropl^ec^ 



CHAPTER FOURTEENTH 




HE conception of Personal- 
ity is one of the most uni- 
versal of intellectual con- 
ceptions. It is presumed in 
conversation, in laws, in 
institutions; yet when an 
attempt is made to analyze its contents, the 
process becomes confusing and difficult. If this 
is true of the human personality, how much 
more so must it be of the Divine! Yet the 
Divine Personality is presumed by nearly all 
religions, and by most ethical systems, and 
has been regarded as an axiom by most pro- 
found thinkers. It is the postulate of all deep 
thinking. Who is wise enough to reconcile 
infinity and personality.? That reconciliation 
will not be attempted in this study. The fact 
of personality is assumed. Such assumption is 
no more essential to our present inquiry than 
to any other line of investigation. It is required 
[333] 



Ci^e 31ntDatD ti^j^t 



alike by history, literature, science, and 
philosophy. 

Personality is the most striking fact in all the 
evolution of human thought. Humanity is not 
a vast undifferentiated mass; it is made up 
of individuals, each one of whom is completely 
a person. This assumption does not relieve us 
from the duty of definition. Yet how shall we 
define.? Definition by description will be the 
easiest and most lucid method. 
What is Ynan? He is a being whose present 
appearance is in a body, but who, in reality, 
is far different from what he appears. He 
thinks, and the process of thinking does not 
become manifest in his face ; indeed, the coun- 
tenance may be used to conceal the interior 
mental activities. He chooses ; and no one can 
tell in what part of the anatomy the will is 
located. He loves ; and there is no resemblance 
between love and any physical organ. The 
body is used by an invisible intelligence whose 
existence no one doubts, although that intelli- 
gence is variously defined and explained. 
This being may lose a hand or a leg, an ear 
[334] 



or an eye, one or all, and never know that 
what distinguished him has been touched. He 
knows himself as thinking, choosing, loving; 
knows that these processes are independent of 
the body, and that no one of them can be de- 
stroyed without the destruction of what con- 
stitutes his manhood. Intelligence, sensibility, 
will, united in a single self-consciousness, con- 
stitute a human personality. But what is 
meant by a Divine Person ? Exactly the same, 
except that in the latter case the universe is 
the embodiment — as it were a garment by 
which the person is both concealed and re- 
vealed. It is the organ of personal manifesta- 
tion. 

Is this idea difficult of comprehension.'^ With- 
out doubt; but mere vastness ought not to 
cause unintelligibility. As a man is a being 
who inhabits a body, using it for his own self- 
expression and realization, so God is a Being 
who inhabits the universe, who manifests Him- 
self through it, and who uses it for the accom- 
plishment of His purposes. The real difficulty 
in the conception of the Divine Personality 
[335] 



m^t Slntoarn itgi^t 



is that which arises from the immensity of the 
creation. When we think of the distances on 
our earth; then remember that it is but one 
little planet in this solar system; then recall 
the fact that other and vaster systems are 
bound together by invisible attractions; that 
those systems without number sweep through 
illimitable space, and that of their beginning 
or ending there is no hint, it is not easy to 
conceive of the universe as a body in which a 
spirit dwells. The problem which is faced by 
earnest thinkers at this point cannot be over- 
looked and need not be minimized. It is not sur- 
prising that some seek refuge in agnosticism ; 
but agnosticism gives no relief; instead, it 
raises other and more serious difficulties. With- 
out entering upon a discussion of the questions 
which here arise, we at once begin our study 
of personality as a prophecy. 
The human personality is intelligent, loving, 
and possesses the power of choice. Intelligence 
has manifested itself in inventions, discoveries, 
institutions, administration of affairs, and in 
literature. This is not only a moral world ; it 
[336] 



IS also an intellectual world. " Man is an 
animal who laughs," but still more he is one 
who thinks. The marvels of invention grow 
every day. Human institutions with their 
amazing complexity are steadily being per- 
fected, and literature is the fine flower of 
history. 

Man is an animal who loves, and love is vastly 
more than mere feeling ; it adds to feeling the 
element of continuous and growing devotion 
to other beings like one's self, and of clearly 
defined self-sacrifice in their behalf. The finest 
efflorescence of human devotion is seen in 
domestic affection, in the sacrifices of those 
who love for loved ones, and in the loyalty of 
friends. 

Also, man is an animal who has the power of 
choice. No blind force compels his intelligence 
or his affection. He is freer than the winds, 
which blow where they list. Pascal, In an oft- 
quoted passage, has thus spoken of man as 
a " reed," thinking and choosing ; " Man is 
but a leed, the weakest in nature, but he is a 
thinking reed. It is not necessary that the 
[337] 



Ci^e 9|tttoarti itgi^t 



entire universe arm itself to crush him. A 
breath of air, a drop of water, sufficeth to 
kill him. But were the universe to crush him, 
man would still be more able than that which 
kills him, because he knows that he dies; and 
the universe knows nothing of the advantage 
it has over him." 

Sometimes when we commune with ourselves, 
thoughts like the following come to us: All 
things other than man have a cause; man 
alone cannot be simply an accident. He also 
is in the line of causation. And if he has be- 
hind him a cause, it cannot be inferior to him- 
self. If he can think and love and choose, 
can the fountain of his being be blind and 
heartless and fettered? If Plato could specu- 
late, Shakespeare trace the intricacies of emo- 
tion, and Jesus love beyond even the limit of 
death, is it conceivable that those men them- 
selves could have come from what in reality 
is a universal nothing.'^ When we face the 
Infinite, and ask whether it be personal, its 
grandeur may make the exception seem to be 
inevitable ; but when we ask if the poets and 
[338] 



prophets, the artists and architects, the phi- 
losophers and orators of all time have merely 
grown out of the universal " stuff," we are 
still more confused. It is better to accept the 
prophecy of personality even though it baffle 
comprehension. 

Once more : How can a Person be great enough 
to pervade all the spaces, to hold all the stars 
as in leashes, and at the same time to watch 
over all the obscure and transitory members 
of the human family.? Such a Being seems 
inconceivable. Shall we therefore conclude 
that He is impossible.?^ It is better to think 
of what love is; of that beautiful devotion 
which was around us in our infancy, and 
whose symbol was our mother's arms ; of that 
thoughtfulness which followed us with the 
years; of the loyalty of wife or child, sur- 
passing speech; of that deep affection which 
we feel for those near to us, and which leaves 
the universe desolate when they are taken from 
us, and then to ask. Could that mother's love, 
that friend's devotion, that sacrifice, and the 
deep social hunger in our own souls, all have 
[339] 



Ci^e gintoatD Htgiftt 



grown out of the ground, as potatoes and 
cabbages grow? It may indeed be difficult to 
appreciate the Divine Personahty, but to 
deny it is infinitely unreasonable. The thought 
of it may be dimly grasped, but it is intensely 
felt. Of it we rightly say : We cannot under- 
stand it, but it must be true. The human per- 
sonality intimates, even manifests, the Divine 
Personality — not less perfect, but more per- 
fect, than ourselves — intelligent, loving, free, 
self-conscious, vast as the universe, enduring 
as eternity. Before this fact we bow, adoring 
and wondering, whether we can or cannot 
prove. 

The human person feels his incompleteness. 
He is ever longing for a great Companion. 
The Psalmist says, " My soul is athirst for 
God." Job cried, " Oh, that I knew where 
I might find Him ! " Augustine exclaimed, 
" Too late I loved Thee, O Thou Beauty of 
Ancient Days ! " A modern author has a 
chapter entitled, " God, the Home of the 
Soul." The longing for a supreme Companion 
to complete our being is one of the most 
[340] 



familiar and universal of experiences; it is 
seen in the deep melancholy which pervades 
the Oriental mind, in the efforts of ear- 
nest souls in all ages to find the cause of 
things. 

Mozoomdar, the leader of the Brahmo Somaj, 
has given up the leadership of his society and 
retired to the mountains about Darjeeling, 
intending to spend there many years, possibly 
all the remainder of his life. When some one 
criticised him for so doing, intimating that 
his course was a confession of failure, he nobly 
replied that it was no failure to turn away 
from the little thoughts and unworthy ideals 
of men, and in the solitude and in the silences 
to hold communion with the eternal realities 
of which the mountains are the noblest and 
most enduring symbols. We are ever feeling 
the presence of One above and beyond our- 
selves. Homesickness is not unknown among 
the strongest souls, even within the most satis- 
fying earthly homes. This is a significant 
fact? Where is its cause and what is its 
significance.? Has this also no meaning.? Or is 
[341] 



Ci^e SItttDart) Itgi^t 



it a prophecy? I cannot regard it as other 
than prophetic. 

" No one is so accursed by fate, 
No one so utterly desolate, 
But some heart, though unknown, 
Responds unto his own.^^ — Longfellow. 

Hunger implies food somewhere; lungs are 
the prophecies of air, and light of eyes ; the 
yearnings of the heart imply the possibility 
of their satisfaction; and the longing of the 
human personality for worthy and enduring 
companionship, will be met in what, for want 
of a more adequate phrase, we call the Divine 
Personality. Man will have no rest until he 
finds it in God ; the great Companion is proph- 
esied or intimated by every hour of human 
loneliness. 

The difficulties which surround this subject 
are many. The day for dogmatism on such 
themes has passed. The interpretation of what 
is written in every soul all are not able to read, 
but whether God be realized or not, He is near 
to us, even in our hearts. 
[342] 



Inability to realize does not make the Divine 
presence less constant or less blessed. 
Some ancient writers conceived the soul as an 
aeolian harp, which, when blown upon, made 
celestial music. Is not the presence of the 
chords of the harp in the souls of men sure 
evidence that sometime the winds of the 
Spirit will blow upon them.? Should it not 
be our increasing effort to have this harp 
in readiness to be touched by those Divine 
breaths ? 

Not less clearly does the human Personality 
prophesy its own immortality. Such subjects 
in philosophy necessarily belong to the realm 
of probability, but there are circumstances in 
which probability assumes the force and em- 
phasis of certainty. As long as there has been 
any record of human thoughts and aspira- 
tions, in some form this inquiry has arisen, 
" If a man die, shall he live again.? " Some- 
time a scientific answer to that question may 
be possible. Until then we must walk by faith, 
but that does not mean walking in darkness. 
Those who have the light onlv of the stars 
[343] 



Ci^c 31ntDarD ligl^t 



should be grateful for that ; starlight is better 
than no light. 

How does human personality prophesy its 
own "survival of bodily death?" The ele- 
ments of personality in themselves are too 
noble to be regarded as intended merely as 
food for death. Kant said that there were 
two things that filled him with awe : the starry 
heavens above and the moral law within. But 
personality is more than moral ; it is also emo- 
tional and intellectual. What beautiful flowers 
grow out of this root! In one field, that of 
literature, have appeared the " Antigone " 
and the " Prometheus," " Faust " and " Na- 
than the Wise," " Hamlet " and the " Para- 
diso," " Paradise Lost " and " The Pilgrim's 
Progress," " The Excursion," " In Memo- 
riam," " The Idylls of the King," " Saul," 
and " Paracelsus." Faculties that can think 
such thoughts are a continuous miracle. The 
response of the earth to the skies in the spring- 
time is an unceasing marvel. How swiftly 
grass and shrub, grain and flowers appear 
when the far-away voice of summer is heard ! 
( 344] 



Glorious indeed is the springtime! But litera- 
ture, art, discovery, invention, are the flowers 
that grow in the garden of the intellect. The 
creative power of the human mind is worthy 
of deep reverence. It suggests an unknown 
origin. 

Quite as marvellous are the emotions. Who 
shall define them? Spirits which seemed to be 
shut up in a prison-house of loneliness, without 
hope of escape, suddenly seem to tread on air ; 
they are as happy as birds; and all because 
a voice noiseless as that which awakens the 
light, has whispered a sweet secret in their 
hearts. They love, and are loved. They will 
follow that gleam to the ends of the earth, and 
with it will dare eternity. By it the physical 
presence is transformed, and the homely face 
becomes radiant; they have felt the touch of 
a magic wand. Love is not only the greatest 
thing in the world, it is also the most beau- 
tiful. 

And it sometimes seems as if the power of 
choice were more marvellous than even the in- 
tellect or the sensibilities. The hands may be 
[345] 



Ci^e 3IntparD tiql^t 



chained, but no hand is strong enough to put 
chains on the will ; the limbs may be bound in 
a dungeon, while the spirit may be climbing 
the Delectable Mountains or walking the 
streets of the Celestial City. The body may 
suffer pain, loss, death, but the spirit will face 
all dangers, and triumph over them. Courage 
is a white flower. The will that can inspire a 
man physically weak, so that, without flinch- 
ing, he will meet savages, inquisitions, " the 
ordeal of fire," in the power of simple devo- 
tion to truth or loyalty to love, is glorious; 
nothing more so is ever witnessed on this earth 
of ours. 

In moments of weariness and despondency it 
seems as if death must end all. Who ever saw 
a soul? When the last breath is drawn the 
human drama appears to be ended. But, on the 
other hand, think of Tennyson and Words- 
worth, of Goethe and Lessing, of Milton and 
Bunyan; recall what men have dared and 
achieved; remember what heroic and conse- 
crated spirits have walked this earth; does 
not the question then arise. Is it possible to 
[346] 



believe that all those now are not living? If 
death be the final reality, then life itself is a 
horrible mockery ; and that cannot be. 
Personality grows, and up to the moment of 
the body's dissolution never ceases to grow. 
The achievements of age are a study quite as 
inspiring as the achievements of youth. Here 
are a few recorded by Longfellow when he had 
passed the limit of threescore and ten : 

'' . . . Nothing is too late, 
Till the tired heart shall cease to palpitate. 
Cato learned Greek at eighty; Sophocles 
Wrote his grand (Edipus, and Simonides 
Bore off the prize of verse from his compeers, 
When each had numbered more than fourscore 
years ; 

" And Theophrastus, at fourscore and ten. 
Had hut begun his ^Characters of men^ ; 
Chaucer, at Woodstock with the nightingales. 
At sixty wrote the ^Canterbury Tales^ ; 
Goethe, at Weimar, toiling to the last. 
Completed ' Faust ' when eighty years were past. 
These are indeed exceptions; but they show 
How fjr the gulf-stream of our youth may flow 
Into the arctic regions of our lives. ^^ 

— " MONTURI SaLUTAMUS." 

[347] 



m^t antwatD tiqfyt 



How strangely tragic have seemed to be the 
deaths of many men who have died in their 
splendid prime! They have passed away in 
the very moment of their most heroic achieve- 
ment. Soldiers have fallen in battle ; life-boat- 
men have gone down in the act of giving their 
lives to save strangers; firemen have sucked 
into their lungs hot flames, and these all in 
their brave youth have ceased to breathe. 
Shelley sang his swan-song at twenty-nine; 
Keats felt the daisies growing over him at 
twenty-two ; Raphael finished his last picture 
when he was thirty-nine. At the instant when 
they are manifesting courage, loyalty, prom- 
ise of intellectual and spiritual growth, multi- 
tudes are called away from the earth. This 
is a great mystery. The body dies when the 
spirit, the real personality, is most vital and 
vigorous. In frequent instances the mental and 
moral faculties are eclipsed simply because 
limitations of the body press hard upon the 
mind. Does not that which continues its growth 
until it passes from view, prophesy its own 
persistence under more favorable conditions.'* 
[348] 



The personality becomes more vital until the 
last breath goes from the body. Thus it be- 
comes prophetic of continuous growth. At 
least positive proof of the impossibility of 
such continuance should be demanded before 
any man should accept the gloomy alterna- 
tive. 

Personality is always greater than its prod- 
uct; the maker is always greater than the 
thing which he makes. The Trilogy of Dante 
will live forever in the world's literature, but 
the mind out of which that stream flowed — 
at first lurid and turbid, then clearer, finally 
a river of light — cannot be less enduring 
than the poem. Leonardo's " Last Supper " 
is slowly fading from the walls in Milan on 
which it was painted, but those colors have 
already endured for centuries. It is not easy 
to think that the mental walls on which first 
that picture hung were in ruins while the work 
of the artist was still vivid and splendid. 
One day I found among some papers a postal- 
card on which were written these words : " I 
was a little tired on Saturday, and remained 
[349] 



m^t 3Intaatn itgi^t 



at home to rest for Sunday. Had a good day 
and good audiences." Not much in that — 
nothing but a few commonplace words, of no 
interest to anyone but to myself; but there is 
the point of the emphasis. The words are there, 
and would easily endure for a thousand years ; 
the ink would not fade nor the paper wear out. 
Is it conceivable that he who penned those 
words and breathed into them the breath of 
a deathless love, actually and forever ceased 
to be on the day before Christmas in the year 
1901.'^ Then intelligence, love, will — then 
courage, aiFection, fidelity, and the fountain 
out of which these flow — all are less enduring 
than a card bought for one cent, and than ink 
worth but a few cents a quart. Thoughts writ- 
ten down will inspire, thrill, instruct, but a 
mind thinking is far more wonderful; love 
expressed on paper is cherished more than 
jewels; but which is the more vital and last- 
ing, the written word or the person loving? 
Because men are greater than words, pictures, 
machines, or literatures which will last for 
millenniums, men prophesy their own survival 
[350] 



of bodily death — or, at the least, for a period 
which for lack of clearer information may be 
called eternity. 

Personality is a prophecy of endless growth. 
It grows to the moment of its departure from 
the earth. Some of its faculties may weaken, 
their relative preponderance may change, but 
the essential personality itself is untouched 
by change. What sometimes seems to contra- 
dict this statement is decay of the body rather 
than of the spirit. If Mozart in his brilliant 
youth had been compelled to express himself 
only through a worn-out organ, even he would 
have produced wheezy music. There is no evi- 
dence to prove that thought, will, affection, 
self -consciousness, ever die. The body becomes 
weak, gets full of rifts, finally is laid aside. 
That is all that we know. Such conditions 
even in youth occasionally produce insanity, 
softening of the brain, idiocy. An autopsy 
on a woman long insane showed a pressure of 
the skull on the brain. If that pressure had 
been detected and removed during her lifetime 
the insanity would have disappeared. So far 
[351] 



ci^e 3im»)arii itgi^t 



as we know the human personahty, it is fitted 
for growth if the conditions be favorable; 
and the fact that it does grow, so long as the 
body permits, is a prophecy that under favor- 
able conditions its growth will continue. 
Such arguments as these are not in the nature 
of demonstration. They are rather the ex- 
pression of probabilities ; they are satisfying 
only to those who are willing to believe. Who 
of us can credibly say, " I have seen, or I 
have visited, that unknown land, and I speak 
of places and persons familiar to me '' ? The 
wisest of men are like those astronomers who 
study the stars, and from them infer that 
others unseen palpitate in the immeasurably 
deeper spaces. The greatest part of our 
most vital and commanding knowledge comes 
in that way. Speculation opens the way to 
discovery. First we have reasons, but not 
proofs, for certain beliefs; then we use those 
beliefs, and in due time discover that they 
lead to reality. But they may fail ! Yes, such 
beliefs may fail, but, because mistake is pos- 
sible, should we refuse to welcome them alto- 
[352] 



gether? The trail which I find when lost in 
the woods may lead into a jungle, and it may 
lead me ultimately to my home; I must take 
it, or wander aimlessly in the forest. The 
voices of my soul all prophesy continuance of 
being. No evidence of their falsity has ever 
been found. When we reach cross-roads in the 
journey of life, and find one guide-board 
which plainly informs us, " This road leads 
nowhere," and another guide-board which, so 
far as legible amid gathering mists, points 
our way to rest and peace, shall we take the 
road which surely leads nowhere.'^ 
The human personality is being studied in our 
day as never before. It is a realm in which 
marvellous discoveries will yet be made. When 
once its spaces are fully entered, discords 
cease, and all its voices, so far as audible to 
us, are found to be harmonious. In various 
tones, but with increasing emphasis, they utter 
two glorious truths : " God is," and " Man 
never dies." These facts are difficult of realiza- 
tion. At first they are accepted, then doubted ; 
but finally they open before those who have 
[353] 



Cl^e Slntoatti JLtgl^t 



eyes to see, vistas and visions for which all 
men have longed, but the full glory of which 
has never entered into any heart to conceive. 
At this point it is wise to turn from the voices 
which are speaking within, and to listen to the 
great and manifold music which is sounding 
without : 

^^ Things which are seen are temporal; but the 

things which are not seen are eternal,^' 

'^ Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard j neither have 

entered into the heart of man, the things which God 

hath prepared for them that love HimJ^ 

"/ am the resurrection, and the life: . . , he 

that believeth in Me shall never die.'' 

'^ In My Father's house are many mansions : if 

it were not so, I would have told you,'' 

" The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne 

shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living 

fountains of waters : and God shall wipe away all 

tears from their eyes," 



[354] 



31ntiejc 



31nDejc 



Academy, Royal, 83. 
Antigone, 139. 
Anthology, sacred, 214. 
Apostles' Creed, 232. 
Augustus, 245. 
Augustine, 50, 77, 340. 
Aurelius, Marcus, 249. 
Authority in religion, 19, 181. 
Authority, the ultimate, 155 

andff. 

B 
Belief, responsibility for, 17, 

97. 
Bible, authority of, 159, 160. 
Bible and bibles, 205 and ff. 
Bible, ruling ideas of, 218. 
Browne, Sir Thomas, 25. 
Browning, Mrs. E. B., 15, 291. 
Browning, Robert, 40, 134. 
Buddha, Amida, 212, 215. 
Buddhistic writings, 209, 212. 
Bushnell, Horace, 150. 



Calvary, 133 and flP. 

Calvary necessary to love, 137. 

Calvary, inward vs. outward, 

146. 
Calvin, John, 216. 
Church, the authority of, 157. 
Church union, 324. 
Church membership, 117. 
Charbanel, Victor, 129. 
Christ, Person of, 175. 
Clarke, Prof. W. N., 35. 
Conscience, 86, 87, 88. 
Constantine, 158. 



Confucius, 209. 

Creeds, 229 and flf. 

Creeds change, 321. 

Creed, new one suggested, 241, 

323. 
Creed, Congregational, 243. 
Creed, Apostles', 244. 
Creon, 139. 

D 

Dante, 349. 

Degeneration, tendency tow- 
ard, 194. 

Democracy, 248. 

Dogmatism, folly of, 266. 

Dogmatism, the infirmity of 
the indolent, 268. 

Duty, 109 and fif. 

Duty, a revelation, 113. 

Duties never conflict, 124. 

Duties, relative, 118, 119. 

E 

Emerson, 301. 
Emotions, prophetic, 345. 
Energy, 48, 49. 
Epictetus, 249. 
Evangelization of the world, 

328. 
Everlasting punishment, 21, 

277. 
Evolution, 73, 102. 

F 



Faith, 169. 
Fenelon, 24. 
Fetichism, 308. 
Fox, George, 6. 
Friendship, 143. 

[357] 



3itintx 



G 

Galahad, Sir, 290. 

Galileo, 316. 

Goal of history, 76. 

God, the final authority, 164, 
173. 

God, expansion of the concep- 
tion of, 309. 

Gravitation and love, 314. 



Hague Tribunal, 328. 
Heredity, 90. 
Herod, 53. 

Hibbert Journal, 186. 
Hindoo mother, 104, 166. 
History, 174. 

History the spirit in self-realiz- 
ation, 314. 



Ideals the same in all lands, 98. 

lUingworth, Divine Imma- 
nence, 35. 

Immanence and personality, 
13. 

Immanence of God, 31 and ff. 

Inmianence of God in the 
Bible, 50. 

Immortality prophesied, 343. 

Incarnation essential to ideals, 
182, 187. 

Inspiration, test of, 208. 

Inward light the indwelling 
God, 179. 

Insanity, 91. 



Jasher, book of, 161. 

Jesus Christ the ultimate 

standard, 191. 
Jesus Christ divine, 194. 



Jesuit missionaries, 171. 
Judgment, the inward, 100. 

K 

Kant, 84, 196, 344. 

Keats, 348. 

Koran, 160, 206, 209, 213. 



Leonardo, 349. 

Life, Christ's, grows, 247. 

Life needs no explanation, 249 

andff. 
Livingstone, David, 189. 
Lincoln, Abraham, 326. 
Longfellow, 342, 347 
Love as old as God, 96. 
Love— what she sees, 138. 
Love a revelation, 145. 
Love in God and man identical, 

146. 
Love pervades the universe, 

292. 
Luther, 216, 317. 

M 

Man, definition of, 334. 

Marconi, 317. 

Martineau, James, 114, 156. 

Meyer, 61, 62. 

Moral law and Jesus, 110. 

Morse, 317. 

Moses, 83. 

Mozart, 351. 

Mozoomdar, 341. 

MtiUer, Prof. Max, 206. 

N 
Newton, Sir Isaac, 317. 



Obedience, 128. 
[358] 



SlnDejc 



Pantheism, 40. 
Pascal, 337. 
Pentecost, 70. 
Personality divine, 13. 
Personality of God, 269, 335. 
Personality g^rows, 347. 
Personality a prophecy, 333 

and ff., 351. 
Pilate, 53. 
Plato, 338. 
Plotinus, 54. 

Political duties evaded, 120. 
Progress in the future, 316 and 

ff. 
Puritanism, 319. 
Punishment, everlasting, 21, 

277. 
Punishment, remedial, 312. 



Quakers, their doctrine of In- 
ward Light, 6, 7. 



R 

Race prejudice, 327. 

Raphael, 348. 

Remorse, 100. 

Revelation, 309. 

Revelation continuous, 175. 

Revivals, 261. 

Revivals in ethnic religions, 

259. 
Rhine castles, 307. 



S 

Sabatier, 156, 179, 196. 
Sacrifice pervades the 

verse, 147. 
Salvation, 311. 
Shakespeare, 338. 



Shelley, 348. 

Spinoza, 54. 

Standard, the ultimate, 179 and 
ff. 

Standard in religion, 19. 

Stephen, E. E., Quaker Strong- 
holds, 6. 

State, new ideal of, 326. 

Strikes, sympathetic, 150. 



Temperament in writings, 162. 
Tennyson, 51, 290. 
Thoreau, 301. 
Turner, the artist, 328. 
Turner, The Quakers, 7. 

U 

Uniqueness, 133. 
Upanishads, 160, 206. 



Von Hartmann, 306, 
Voices of the soul, 353. 

W 

Wallace, Prof. William, 186. 

Washington, 326. 

Watt, James, 317. 

Wesleys, 259. 

Westminster Confession, 233, 

243. 
Whittier, 26, 68, 69, 225, 253, 255, 

330. 
Woolman, John, 83, 84. 
Wordsworth, 43. 



Zen Avesta, 160, 206, 209. 
[359] 



OCT 16 1905 



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